By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
A proposed Philadelphia Water Department
construction project could shut down portions of
a main Gayborhood thoroughfare, leaving area
business owners concerned about the future of
their shops.
The Water Department has targeted an area of
Pine Street, between Broad and Seventh streets,
as the location for a Storm Relief Project.
If the project proceeds, the Water Department
would close off one- to two-block segments
of Pine Street to vehicular trafﬁc for between
two-three months each as workers dig down
approximately 16 feet to install a new sewer
system. Wooden planks will be laid across the
sidewalk for pedestrians to access homes and
businesses and many of the street’s trees may
need to be removed.
The Water Department estimated the entire
project should last about two years, as long as
everything goes according to plan.
The project is meant to stem sewage backup
that had been recurring in some of the city’s river
wards as a result of heavy rains. Between 200406, several large rainstorms, which accumulated
at least 2.5-3 inches of rainwater an hour, resulted
in sewage pipes backing up into basements of
properties in Northern Liberties, Washington
Square West and parts of South Philadelphia.
Joanne Dahme, PWD Watersheds project
manager, explained that when the city experiences
intense rain, the aging and inadequate sewers
often can’t handle the added water and empty
into the basements of area properties instead of
draining into tanks and rivers.
“When the sewers ﬁll up and reach capacity
from the rainwater, the only way for them to be
relieved is by backing up through a property’s
laterals, coming up through ﬂoor drains or utility
sinks at the basement level,” Dahme said. “After
2005, we had a few storms and thought that this
could be a ﬂuke as it hadn’t happened in decades,
but then it happened again. We recognized that
this could be the result of climate change but we
are seeing more intense rainstorms, and in order
to stop the sewage backup, we have to provide
additional conveyance capacity.”
Although Dahme noted the city hasn’t seen
widespread backups as the result of intense rain
since 2006, the project would guard against
future ﬂooding.
“We’ve been lucky that we’ve had two
summers where this has not happened, but we
don’t want to just say, ‘It’s all over with,’ and
See CONSTRUCTION, Page 9

MAN OF THE HOUR: Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Dan
Anders (far right) mingled with Sherrie Cohen (from left), Gary Davidoff
and Adam Hofe during Anders’ Volunteer Kickoff party Feb. 10 at Tavern on
Camac. The event was meant to spread the word about Anders’ upcoming
election campaign and to drum up support from the LGBT and ally communities. Individuals who committed to volunteer for Anders’ campaign
received free food and drink tickets. Anders, the first openly gay man to
run for public office in Philadelphia, was appointed to the position in 2007
by Gov. Rendell and will be up for election for a full 10-year term in the May
19 primary. Photo: Scott A. Drake

Nondiscrimination bill
nearly ready in the House
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
A Pennsylvania lawmaker plans
to reintroduce a bill that would ban
discrimination against LGBT people
across the state. The bill’s list of
cosponsors has already surpassed the
number of lawmakers who supported the
legislation when it was ﬁrst introduced
last session.
Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Frankel (D23rd Dist.) has thus far enlisted the
signatures of 73 cosponsors for the

legislation, which would amend the
Pennsylvania Human Relations Act
to prohibit discrimination in housing,
employment and public accommodations
on the basis of sexual orientation and
gender identity.
Such laws already exist in Philadelphia
and 13 other Pennsylvania counties but
not at a statewide level.
Melissa Lewis, a research analyst
with Frankel’s ofﬁce, said that while the
lawmaker has not yet introduced the bill,

Mayor Nutter met with a group of LGBT community
leaders last weekend to assess the community’s needs
and inform its representatives about the current state
of affairs within city government.
Nutter participated in an hour-and-a-half discussion
Feb. 8 at Duross & Langel, 117 S. 13th St., with 23
members of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus,
Midtown Village Merchants’ Association and the
Independence Business Alliance, the city’s LGBT
chamber of commerce, during which he explained
how the city’s budgetary concerns could affect
different facets of the LGBT community and asked
for feedback from the participants about how the city
can most effectively serve the LGBT business and
tourism communities.
Gloria Casarez, the city’s director of LGBT
affairs, said last weekend’s gathering was one of
many the mayor is currently undertaking to establish
connections with the city’s different communities.
“As part of the budget discussions happening
right now within City Hall, the mayor and other
administration ofﬁcials are engaging in a number of
key stakeholder discussions,” she said. “This is a time
for some of the stakeholders in various communities in
the city to ask questions and voice their concerns.”
Casarez said Nutter was able to get a better grasp
on ﬁnancial and other issues concerning the LGBT
community from the diverse representatives.
“These were people who have a heavy, deep stake
in what’s rolling out now in the city in terms of the
budget process,” Casarez said. “These were a range
of business folks, from longtime business owners
who have multiple properties in the Gayborhood
to somebody who just owns one shop and to those
who do independent consulting. To have all of those
perspectives in the room was really beneﬁcial,
especially because they all had direct access to the

See HOUSE, Page 9

See BUDGET, Page 20

Obama names lesbian lawyer to White House staff
Although President Obama is several
weeks into his term, he’s still updating his list
of staffers and the latest round of appointees
includes an out lesbian.
Late last month, Obama announced the
names of 22 lawyers who would be joining
the White House Counsel’s Ofﬁce, and
Alison Nathan, an openly gay fellow at New
York University’s law school and a former
assistant professor at Fordham University’s
law school, was on the list.
Nathan and her fellow associate counsel
staffers will advise the president on various

legal issues.
Nathan is a 1994 graduate of Cornell
University and received her law degree from
the school in 2000. She taught civil procedure
at Fordham from August 2006-08 and also
conducted a seminar on the Supreme Court
and the death penalty. Nathan was the 200809 Alexander Fellow at NYU.
Prior to entering the world of academia,
Nathan was a litigation associate at Wilmer
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where
she focused on civil litigation, Supreme
Court and appellate litigation, Constitutional

law and habeas-corpus litigation in deathpenalty cases.
In 2004, Nathan served as an associate
national counsel for John Kerry’s presidential
campaign, and last year was the national
voter-protection senior adviser to the Obama
campaign and sat on the campaign’s LGBT
advisory board.
Nathan was recommended to the position
through the Gay & Lesbian Leadership
Institute’s Presidential Appointments Project.
■

— Jen Colletta

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 2

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Penn athletics headed on right path
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
An LGBT and ally group on
the campus of the University of
Pennsylvania will stage a series
of events next week that seek to
raise awareness about the prevalent
homophobic environment in college
athletics and encourage students,
faculty and staff to speak out against
such attitudes.
Penn Athletes and Allies Tackling
Homophobia will host Homophobia
in Athletics Awareness Week
beginning Feb. 15, with activities
that shed light on the challenges
gay athletes face both on and off
the court and what still needs to be
done to create a more welcoming
atmosphere for all college athletes.
Kelsey Wolfe, co-chair of the
group and a sophomore softball
player, said this is the ﬁrst time the

organization has devoted an entire
week to spreading its message
throughout the Penn campus.
PATH was founded in the spring
of 2003 by a freshman swim-team
member who Wolfe said “couldn’t
deal with the homophobia he saw
on the team” and decided to create
an advocacy group to address the
issue.
Wolfe, who is openly gay, said
the organization now has about 25
members who belong to the LGBT
and athletic communities and some
who are members of both.
“A lot of what we do is trying to
break the homophobic climate in the
athletic community,” Wolfe said. “A
lot of our social events pull together
varsity athletes and people from the
LGBT community and give them all
a safe place to come together.”
Wolfe, who said she has
encountered homophobic attitudes

from a few of her fellow players,
noted that such a mindset is
common to many of the campus’
sports communities.
“A lot of athletes are closeted,”
Wolfe said. “People feel they can’t
be out because it might ruin their
relationships with their teammates
or with their coaches.”
Throughout Awareness Week,
PATH will have an organizational
banner hanging on Locust Walk, one
of the campus’ main thoroughfares,
where all Penn community members
can sign their names and pledge their
support for PATH and its mission.
PATH members and supporters
will gather for a pickup game with
gay rugby team the Philadelphia
Gryphons at 3 p.m. Feb. 15 at Hill
Field, 34th and Chestnut streets, and
afterward will head to Mikey’s Bar
& Grill, 31st and Chestnut, where
participants will enjoy food and

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drink specials.
On Feb. 17, PATH will encourage
all of its members to wear PATH
T-shirts so the group’s message
is carried to classrooms across
campus.
The following night at 6:30,
PATH will welcome a collection of
athletic representatives from area
colleges for a panel discussion, “It’s
Not Whether You’re Gay or Straight,
It’s How You Play the Game: A
Discussion on Homophobia in
Athletics” in the Dunning Coaches’
Center.
The discussion, which will
analyze why LGBT college athletes
often choose to stay in the closet,
will be led by panelists Jen Moore,
openly gay assistant coach of
women’s softball at Swarthmore
College; Michael Muska, openly
gay former athletic director at
Oberlin College; Sean Smith, openly

gay former assistant swim coach at
Rutgers University; Paul Richard,
head coach of men’s swimming
at Dickinson College; Denis
Elton Cochran-Fikes, compliance
coordinator in Penn’s department
of recreation and intercollegiate
athletics; and Amanda Kammes,
assistant coach of women’s
basketball at Penn.
Wolfe said the discussion will
bring attention to an issue that is
one of the most taboo subjects in
the college-sports world.
“The lack of visibility is why this
panel is so necessary,” she said.
“No one is talking about this issue,
so it continues to be a problem.”
For more information about
PATH, visit www.vpul.upenn.edu/
lgbtc/path/. ■
Jen Colletta can be reached at
jen@epgn.com.

If you or someone you
know is aﬀected by
dependence on
opioid prescription
painkillers or heroin
Call Cherry Hill Clinic for
Integrative and Preventive Medicine
and ask about private, in-oﬃce
treatment that suppresses withdrawal
symptoms and decreases cravings.

The views of PGN are expressed only in the unsigned “Editorial” column.
Opinions expressed in bylined columns, stories and letters to the editor are
those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of PGN. The
appearance of names or pictorial representations in PGN does not necessarily
indicate the sexual orientation of that named or pictured person or persons.

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 5

News Briefing

Regional
Tourism agency awarded for U.K. LGBT campaign

Black LGBT elders to
speak to community
To celebrate Black History Month,
members of the local black LGBT community
will gather next week to discuss the history
and progression of the community.
“Elders Speak: The Organizing of the
Black LGBT Community in Philadelphia,”
sponsored by The COLOURS Organization
Inc. and the Black LGBT Archivists Society,
will be held at 6 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Arch
Street United Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad
St. The panel discussion will allow elders
of the black sexual-minority population in
Philadelphia to pass down their thoughts on
the community to younger generations.
For more information, contact COLOURS
at (215) 496-0330.

Red-carpet fundraiser
for LGBT festival

PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU COMMUNICATION MANAGER ELLEN KORNFIELD (FROM LEFT),
DIRECTOR OF TOURISM SALES KATHLEEN TITUS, TOURISM ASSISTANT CRYSTAL HAYES AND PHILADELPHIA GAY
TOURISM CAUCUS PRESIDENT TAMI SORTMAN Photo: Courtesy of HSMAI
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
A Philadelphia tourism agency recently
received an award from an international
advertising company for its outreach efforts
to the overseas LGBT community.
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing
Association International gave one of its
prestigious Adrian Awards to the Philadelphia
Convention and Visitors Bureau for the
organization’s 2007-08 U.K. Gay and Lesbian
Marketing Campaign. Representatives from
PCVB accepted the Bronze award in the Public
Relations, Consumer Marketing Campaign
category during HSMAI’s 19th annual Adrian
Awards dinner in New York City Jan. 26.
Kathleen Titus, director of tourism sales
at PCVB, said the group chose to apply for
the award because its LGBT campaign was
unique in both focus and target audience.
“When we looked at the application of what
awards we could go for, we thought that this
was a nice niche for what we were doing with
consumer advertising,” Titus said. “Every
year PCVB submits different applications for
awards like these and we thought that our gay
advertising in the U.K. and throughout Europe
would be one that we might have a chance of
winning because we really went above and
beyond on this campaign when you compare
it to what other destinations were doing to
attract these consumers.”
The campaign, which launched in 2006-07
and stretched beyond the United Kingdom
to countries like Germany, was fueled by
the PCVB’s partnership with Gaydar Radio.
PCVB worked with the online company to
produce radio and Web spots that ran for four

weeks and followed the trail of a ﬁctitious gay
traveler as he experienced all that Philadelphia
had to offer.
“The whole premise of the ads was that this
gentleman Robert, whom we called ‘Ben,’ is
loving Philadelphia so much that he never
leaves. When people tuned into Gaydar Radio
or visited the Web site, they’d listen for where
he was going next, but he ends up never
leaving Philadelphia.”
Titus said that when the company was
researching what elements of the city to include
in the ads, they decided to not only promote
Philadelphia’s unique LGBT community but
also to bring in the city’s many mainstream
attractions that would be of interest to LGBT
travelers.
“When we were looking at things that were
unique to Philadelphia, we’re really home to
the birth of civil rights and freedom,” Titus
said. “And we have the actual Gayborhood
itself, which is different and unique from those
in other cities because it’s right in the middle
of Center City, where people live, shop and
walk. Everything falls right next door to City
Hall — the theaters, the historic district, the
shopping along Rittenhouse Row — these are
all unique to Philadelphia and something we
wanted to go after.”
Titus said that although other tourist
destinations are more traditional LGBT hot
spots, Philadelphia’s rich history and culture
make it stand out as an alternative travel spot.
“When looking at gay and lesbian markets,
especially in the U.K., a lot of people will say,
‘Let’s go to New York City or San Francisco.’
But these people have probably been there
several times, so we tried to show them, how
about coming to Philadelphia?” Titus said.

“This is where everything started. We tagged
onto what GPTMC [Greater Philadelphia
Tourism Marketing Campaign] was doing
with its ‘Get Your History Straight and
Your Nightlife Gay’ campaign. Philadelphia
has history and if you’re a gay traveler or
not, when you come to the city you want to
experience the same things as everyone else.”
Several foreign journalists who’d taken
note of the campaign visited the city to
cover last year’s Equality Forum and PCVB
representatives, along with Tami Sortman,
president of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism
Caucus, and other PGTC members took the
visitors on tours throughout the city, visiting
traditional tourist spots as well as LGBTthemed events such as last year’s LGBT
rodeo, Liberty Stampede.
“[The HSMAI award] was a fabulous
surprise because it was for international
travel and international tourism, so it was a
huge coup for Philadelphia to be receiving an
award for an international campaign focused
on the LGBT community,” Sortman said.
Titus noted that the Adrian Award gives
some well-deserved recognition to a city
that has been committed to attracting LGBT
travelers from around the globe.
“This was a huge honor, being recognized
for something internationally, especially when
we were up against such tough competition.
When most people think of gay and lesbian
destinations, they think of prime areas, but
they’re not doing as much advertising as
Philadelphia’s been doing. It took a lot for
Philadelphia to get to this point, so this is
really great for us.” ■
Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.com.

If your invitation to L.A.’s Kodak Theater
for next weekend’s Oscar extravaganza
never arrived, you can still see the show in
style at a fundraising party for a local LGBT
arts endeavor.
The Traverse Arts Project, which will
stage the ﬁrst annual GLBT Artists Festival
in May, will host a Red Carpet Party from
7:30-11 p.m. Feb. 22 at The Ethical Society
Building, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square, with
proceeds beneﬁting the festival.
The party will feature an open bar serving
wine, beer and cocktails, gourmet hors
d’oeuvres and desserts. Lui Photography
will provide all guests personalized photos
of their parties on the red carpet.
The Oscar telecast will begin at 8 p.m.
Tickets bought in advance are $50, or
$75 at the door. Students with valid ID can
purchase tickets at the door for $30. For
more information or to purchase tickets,
visit http://traversetheater.org/.

Jersey starts first
needle exchange
The South Jersey AIDS Alliance has
issued a call for volunteers to assist with its
new needle-exchange program.
The program, which allows syringe-users
to anonymously exchange used needles
for clean ones, is held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Tuesdays and Thursdays at the SJAA’s Oasis
Center, 32 S. Tennessee Ave. in Atlantic
City.
This marks the ﬁrst time a legal needleexchange program, geared to prevent the
spread of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis,
has been instituted in New Jersey.
To apply to volunteer with the program,
visit www.sjaids.org. Completed applications
can be faxed to Georgett at (609) 348-8775
or mailed to SJAA, 19 Gordon’s Alley,
Atlantic City, NJ 08401. ■
— Jen Colletta

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 6

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Trans woman gets favorable rulings from PCHR
By Timothy Cwiek
PGN Writer-at-Large
Bobbie E. Burnett has been
involved in litigation against her
employer, the Free Library of
Philadelphia, for the past six years.
She’s described the experience
as frustrating, depressing and
stressful.
But at last she’s beginning to feel
a glimmer of hope.
On Jan. 13, the Philadelphia
Commission on Human Relations
issued three probable-cause ﬁndings
in her favor. Those ﬁndings mean
the PCHR determined that library
ofﬁcials probably violated Burnett’s
civil rights on at least three separate
occasions due to her gender
identity.
By issuing the probable-cause
ﬁndings, the PCHR has paved the
road for a public hearing on behalf
of Burnett, where library ofﬁcials
would be required to respond
to her allegations of abuse and
mistreatment.
But Burnett also holds out hope
that a settlement will be reached
prior to such a hearing, including
ﬁnancial compensation that will
enable her to stop working at the
library.

“Certainly there’s some hope
now,” Burnett said. “But I’ve been so
disappointed in the past, it’s difﬁcult
for me to be too optimistic.”
Burnett has served as a library
assistant for the Free Library for
about 17 years. Her take-home pay
is about $425 weekly.
The workplace harassment,
discrimination
and
gender
stereotyping she complains of
started about eight years ago, shortly
after she transitioned to the opposite
gender, Burnett said.
Her allegations run the gamut,
from being hassled about the
restroom she could use to being
denied work-related courtesies
routinely offered to others to having
denigrating slurs hurled at her from
coworkers and supervisors.
Recently, when she wished
a coworker a nice weekend, he
responded by saying, “Burn in hell,”
according to Burnett.
She’s been transferred to eight
different work sites in as many
years, she said.
“Most of these transfers were
against my wishes, placing me in
locations a great distance from
my home. In some cases, they
were physically unsafe. [Library
ofﬁcials] also tried to place me in

areas where I’d have less contact
with the general public, especially
children.”
She also complains of unfair
performance evaluations, uneven
enforcement of work rules, a lack
of promotional opportunities and
an inability to earn the maximum
income available to library
assistants.
Burnett readily acknowledged
that her behavior hasn’t always been
perfect. But minor transgressions
on her part — tapping a coworker with a paperback book or
making an off-color joke — have
resulted in disciplinary measures
disproportionate to the incident, she
said.
“Sometimes out of stress and
depression and frustration, I’ve
done things that I wish I hadn’t
done,” Burnett noted. “I’ve been
suspended without pay on two
occasions for minor things, which
was unnecessary. Anybody else
would have gotten a slap on the
wrist. There are no slaps on the
wrist for me.”
Sandra Horrocks, a spokesperson
for the Free Library of Philadelphia,
declined to comment for this story,
citing the pending litigation.
Burnett is the ﬁrst transgender

complainant to receive a
probable-cause
ﬁnding
from the PCHR since May
2002, when Philadelphia
enacted a transgender civilrights ordinance.
So far, she’s ﬁled four
complaints with the PCHR
against the library system.
Her ﬁrst three complaints
received the probablecause ﬁndings. A fourth
complaint has not yet been
ruled on.
Rachel S. Lawton, deputy
director of compliance for
the PCHR, said she could
not comment about the
open case, but noted that
if a public hearing were
held, it would be open to all
BOBBIE BURNETT Photo: Timothy Cwiek
interested parties.
and I’m deeply grateful for their
Burnett
credited
her
efforts.”
spirituality for sustaining her.
Burnett extended particular
“God has strengthened me and
helped me get through this,” Burnett thanks to her attorney, Kristine W.
said. “What [library ofﬁcials] did Holt. “I think we’re very fortunate
to me has been really nasty and to have Kristine as an advocate for
horrible. But they didn’t make my the LGBT community,” she said.
life such hell that I’m not alive “I’ll always remember what Kristine
Holt has done for me.” ■
anymore.”
She also expressed gratitude to
the PCHR. “The staff really worked Timothy Cwiek can be reached at
very hard to unearth the truth, (215) 625-8501 ext. 208.

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

National

PAGE 7

Media Trail
USA Network ad
backs gay marriage
Page One Q reports a major television
network has backed marriage equality in a
recent ad campaign.
The USA Network, whose ads feature
the slogan “Characters Welcome,” has
launched the campaign in conjunction with a
coalition of advocacy organizations, calling
on the audience to sign the “Characters
Unite Pledge.”
“At USA Network,” the ad states, “we
believe life is richer when we see past our
differences and appreciate each other for
the characters that we are.”
The characters in the 30-second spot
ad, widely ranging in age and race, give
their reasons for pledging, which include:
“I pledge because everybody deserves
wedding gifts.”
LITERARY LEGACY: The owner of the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York City announced last
week that the store would be permanently closing its doors next month. The store, which has
been open for 41 years, is the oldest LGBT bookstore in the world. Owner Kim Brinster said the
tough economic times, as well as the growth of large chain bookstores and online shopping,
forced her to shut down the shop. “Unfortunately we do not have the resources to weather
the current economic crisis and find it’s time to call it a day,” Brinster said in a message on
the store’s Web site. Brinster thanked “all of our customers for their love and loyalty over the
years.” The shop will remain open until March 29. Photo: Cecelia Martin

New Jersey sees first gay divorce
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
Although gay marriage is not yet legal in
New Jersey, a judge ruled last week that gay
divorce is.
New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary C.
Jacobson ruled Feb. 6 that a lesbian couple
who obtained a marriage license in Canada
could receive a legal divorce in New Jersey.
La Kia Hammond and her former partner
Kinyati were married in Canada in 2004 and
settled in North East, Md. The following year,
Hammond discovered that she had a terminal
form of muscular dystrophy and was told that
she only had two years to live.
In 2006, Hammond left Kinyati and moved
to New Jersey with her 14-year-old daughter
from a previous relationship.
Hammond, 33, has since started a
relationship with another woman and wants to
travel to Canada to marry her.
New Jersey attorneys Lawrence Lustberg
and Avidan Cover of Gibbons, P.C., and solo
practitioner Stephen Hyland spearheaded the
case for the American Civil Liberties Union
of New Jersey, arguing that the couple should
be granted a full legal divorce to prevent
any challenges in Hammond obtaining
another marriage license from the Canadian
government.
Kinyati did not respond to the divorce
ﬁlings.
The state Attorney General’s ofﬁce argued
against the granting of the divorce pursuant
to its 2007 order that same-sex marriages

performed in other regions be treated as civil
unions, which have been legal in New Jersey
since 2006, and that the state not recognize
marriages from other states or countries that
are “an affront” to New Jersey public policy.
Jacobson, however, found that awarding an
actual divorce, rather than the dissolution of a
civil union, was the most appropriate method
based on New Jersey law.
“To grant the divorce here is not against
public policy,” Jacobson said in the oral ruling.
“It’s consistent with the strong marriagerecognition principles that have been practiced
since the 1800s.”
Ed Barocas, ACLU-NJ legal director, said
the judge’s decision will allow the Hammonds’
separation to be a true legal process that should
be recognized by the Canadian government.
“The decisions of New Jersey courts don’t
happen in a vacuum,” Barocas said. “If they
only called this the dissolution of a civil
union, then beyond the four corners of New
Jersey it would have been unclear whether that
relationship was terminated or not. The only
way to ensure that the relationship was fully
terminated was to have an actual divorce.”
Barocas noted that in the 2006 New Jersey
Supreme Court case Lewis v. Harris, the court
found that the state could expand its marriage
laws to include same-sex couples, which he
said demonstrated that same-sex marriage is
aligned with the state’s public policy.
“Every day our family courts deal
with marriages from out of state and the
understanding is that we’ll recognize them
as long as they’re valid and not an affront to

public policy. La Kia’s marriage was valid
and not an affront to our public policy in any
way,” he said. “What the court said last week
made sense: If you come to New Jersey with
a valid marriage, you’re entitled to leave with
a divorce, just as if you come to New Jersey
with a civil union, then you’re entitled to the
dissolution of that civil union.”
Jacobson noted that her ruling does not
mean the state must recognize legal samesex marriages, which Hyland noted would
be the most equitable procedure for same-sex
couples.
“This decision is a step in the right
direction, but one that never should have had
to be made,” said Hyland. “The Attorney
General needlessly created confusion and
legal problems for these couples. She should
simply recognize out-of-state marriages, the
only way to ensure equal treatment for couples
married outside of New Jersey.”
Following the ruling, Hammond noted the
decision will pave the way for her to move
on without the complications of further legal
proceedings.
“While the day a relationship ends is never
happy, I am relieved that the courts of New
Jersey are allowing us to move on, rather than
keeping our relationship status in legal limbo,”
Hammond said in a statement. “Breaking up
is painful enough, and I’m happy we won’t
have to face the hardship of having to ﬁght
just to make it ofﬁcial.” ■
Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.
com.

Lesbian discharged
from National Guard
Advocate.com reports a nine-year
member of the Kansas Army National
Guard was discharged under the military’s
ban on gay servicemembers.
Amy Brian was the Kansas Guard’s ﬁrst
discharge under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” policy after a coworker saw her kiss a
woman in a Wal-Mart. The Iraq War veteran
was “separated” in January.
“I was not separated because of any
type of misconduct but plain and simply
because someone else had a problem with
my sexuality,” she said.
In July 2008, another gay guardsman
warned Brian that someone was targeting
her and, the following month, a lieutenant
told her she was being investigated for
homosexual conduct.

Antigay bill defeated
in Wyoming
365gay.com reports legislation to amend
the Wyoming constitution to ban same-sex
marriage has been defeated in the state
legislature.
The Wyoming House voted 35-25 against
it, despite massive lobbying by conservative
groups. The vote ensures the measure will
not appear on the ballot in 2010.
The proposed amendment would have
deﬁned marriage as between a man and
a woman and blocked the state from
recognizing same-sex marriages performed
in other states or countries.
Wyoming already has a law limiting
marriage to opposite-sex couples, but
Republican state Sen. Curt Meier, the
amendment’s main sponsor, said the law
is not sufﬁcient and could be overturned
by the courts. A constitutional amendment
would have blocked that. ■
— Larry Nichols

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 8

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

‘Legends’ to come together for NJ marriage-equality event
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
Although the red carpet will
have already been rolled up and
all the little golden statues handed
out the previous weekend, New
Jersey will host its own Oscar-type
party Feb. 28, with glitz, glamour
and a wealth of well-knowns
gathering to honor individuals
and organizations who’ve made
signiﬁcant contributions to LGBT
equality over the past year.
Broadway,
Hollywood
and
political legends will unite with New
Jersey LGBT advocates for Garden
State Equality’s annual Legends
Dinner, which begins at 6:30 p.m.
at The Palace at Somerset Park, 333
Davidson Ave. in Somerset, N.J.
The event will feature a cocktail
and smorgasbord hour, an open
bar and a ﬁve-star dinner, as well
as a silent auction and after-party
concert.
Steven Goldstein, chair of
Garden State Equality, which
works to advance LGBT rights,

said the dinner will pay tribute to
the accomplishments of the group
and its supporters, as well as rally
LGBT and ally individuals behind
the push for marriage equality in
New Jersey.
“The dinner has an interesting
message. On the one hand, it’s a
celebration of our organization’s
achievements; in our ﬁve years of
existence, we’ve passed 204 [proLGBT] laws at the state, local and
county levels, which is more laws
in less time than in any other state
in American history,” Goldstein
said. “And on the other hand, we’ve
got one more law to go — marriage
equality — and we won’t rest until
we get that 205th law.”
Goldstein noted that he expects
about 700 people to attend the
dinner, which drew 500 individuals
last year and about 300 the previous
year.
“That shows you how hot our
organization and the cause of
marriage equality are right now,”
Goldstein said. “To get that kind
of a turnout is a real sign of our
organization’s growth.”

Out comedian Judy Gold will
emcee the event, which will
feature appearances by actors Fran
Drescher, Judith Light, George Takei
and Michelle Clunie. Stage legends
Andrea McArdle of “Annie” fame,
Marc Shaiman of “Hairspray” and
Miche Braden of “Movin’ Out” will
also be in attendance.
For the ﬁrst time, New Jersey Gov.
Jon Corzine, a marriage-equality
advocate, will attend the dinner
and address the crowd. Goldstein
noted that Corzine’s involvement
in the dinner provides an added
and integral level of support for the
cause of marriage equality.
“The governor has certainly
moved into a very strong direction
of supporting marriage equality,”
Goldstein said. “After the Civil
Union Review Commission Report
came out in December, he released
a very strong statement in support of
marriage equality and said he’d sign
a marriage-equality bill, and when
that day comes when he gets to do
that, he’ll be a very happy governor.
For us in New Jersey, it’s just the
question of when that will be, not

if. There is going to be
marriage equality in the
state of New Jersey, and
the sooner, the better.”
Corzine
will
be
joined by other publicservice notables such as
openly gay New York
City Council Speaker
Christine Quinn, U.S.
Congressman from New
Jersey Steven Rothman
and the governor’s former
chief of staff Jeannine
Larue.
During the event,
Garden State Equality will
honor the Robbinsville
High
School
GayStraight Alliance, which
fought for the resignation
of a school board member
who used an antigay
slur, with its Lt. Laurel
Hester Prize for Citizen
Courage; LGBT student
scholarship
program
Point Foundation with
the Visionary Award;
Democracy for AmericaNew Jersey with the
Pillar of Progress Prize;
and Prudential ScheringPlough with the Corporate
Equality Award.
The group will give its
Loretta Weinberg Prize
for Lifetime Achievement
to Larue and the Gibbons
Prize for Law and Social
Change to transgender
activist Jacqui Charvet.
Rothman and the GayActivist Alliance in
Morris County will both
be inducted into the
Equality Hall of Fame.
The
tax-deductible
tickets begin at $225 and
packages, some of which
include backstage passes,
are available.
For more information
or
to
purchase
tickets,
visit
www.
gardenstateequality.org.

NEW JERSEY GOV. JON CORZINE

■

Jen Colletta can be reached NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER
CHRISTINE QUINN PGN file photo
at jen@epgn.com.

eastcoastchocolate.com

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FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

CONSTRUCTION
From Page 1
then have something happen,” she
said.
Dahme said the Water Department
is installing backwater valves to
protect against sewage backups in
basements for the time being, but
that the expansion of the sewer
system would provide a more
permanent solution to the problem.
Although most of the backups
did not occur on Pine Street but on
smaller surrounding streets, Dahme
said the installation of the new
system needs to occur on a larger
roadway that can accommodate the
equipment.
Despite reliving headaches for
local residents who’ve struggled
with ﬂooded basements, the project
has created other headaches for area
businesses.
Ed
Hermance,
owner
of
Giovanni’s Room, 12th and Pine
streets, said the project could disrupt
the building’s infrastructure.
“We have a little room in our
building that’s underneath the
sidewalk, and my guess is the Water
Department knows nothing about
this room,” Hermance said. “If
they’re digging down 16 feet, my
building could collapse into that pit.
It’s kind of scary.”
Other business owners said the
project could also cause a more
ﬁgurative collapse of their stores.
“This will pretty much destroy
[business],” said Glenn Lash,
manager of toy store Happily Ever
After, 1010 Pine St. “With the
current [economic] situation, if
you walk down Pine Street, there’s
not too much business anyway and
about a quarter of businesses are
already gone. This is a nice little
neighborhood community so we
do rely on mothers with strollers
walking by and the tourist trade is
very important too. Those doubledecker buses aren’t going to be able
to get down the street, so they’re not
going to know we’re here.”
Dahme said the city does not have
the funds to compensate business
owners for any lost revenue during

HOUSE
From Page 1
he did secure a bill number: HB
300.
“We did reserve a bill number
already, and we’ve been having
some meetings and discussing when
is the best time to reintroduce it,”
Lewis said.
Frankel introduced the same
legislation in June 2007 with 70
cosponsors. The bill, HB 1400,
was referred to the House State
Government Committee, which
held a series of public hearings on
the legislation in fall 2007.
Some
committeemembers

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS
the
project,
which
will
cost about $15
million.
“The
city
does not have
the means to
pay for the pain
and suffering
businesses
might face from
this project, but
we’re going to
work to the best
of our ability to
make sure their
services
are
not affected,” she
said.
Hermance said the cut in vehicular
and foot trafﬁc could spell ﬁnancial
crisis for Giovanni’s Room and
other Pine Street shops.
“All these little mom-and-pop
stores — because that’s really who
we are, we’re all small businesses
— we just cannot be closed for
months,” Hermance said.
About 25 Pine Street business
owners added their names to a
petition sent to Mayor Nutter on
Feb. 2, asking him to intervene and
stop the project.
“Nobody wants a project like this
on their block. People are saying,
‘I’m not having this problem. Why
do we have to go through this?’”
Dahme said. “It’s a hard story to
tell but everything is interconnected
through the underground pipes. The
neighbors are the ones having the
problem and we have to look for a
holistic solution.”
The construction was initially
projected from Broad Street all the
way down to the Delaware River
on Pine. Dahme said that after
hearing the residents’ and business
owners’ concerns during several
neighborhood meetings, however,
PWD decided to shorten the route to
extend only to Seventh, a segment
of which — between Pine and
Lombard streets — will also be
closed for a time.
Dahme said that following an
October meeting with concerned Pine
Street residents, PWD has continued
attempted to table the bill in
September 2008, but that motion
failed. The committee’s chair, Rep.
Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.), a
strong supporter of the legislation,
chose not to pursue a committee
vote on the bill, as she was unsure
if lawmakers who’d pledged to back
the legislation would actually follow
through with a vote.
Before it died in committee, HB
1400 had garnered 79 cosponsors,
the highest amount of support ever
given to a pro-LGBT bill. The
companion Senate bill garnered 22
of 50 possible cosponsors.
Lewis said Frankel and the bill’s
other prime sponsors are now

PAGE 9

Triangle Medical
General Practice
Progressive HIV Care
MARK T. WATKINS, DO
JOHN DEL ROSSI, PA-C
GIOVANNI’S ROOM
to look into other possible locations
for the construction project. She said
the agency is reviewing computer
models to analyze the feasibility
of installing the new system either
on Lombard Street or further into
South Philadelphia.
Dahme said PWD should make
its ﬁnal decision on whether it will
proceed with the project on Pine
Street within a month or two.
John
Arneth,
owner
of
Adornamenti, 1106 Pine St., who
also operates Show of Hands at
1006 Pine with business partner
Paul Harris and lives in the 800
block, called the project a “total
disaster.”
“We’re not chain stores; we
have nobody to back us up. If
Adornamenti had to close for
even, say, two months, I’m out of
business. When you’ve got only a
one- or two-person operation and
you don’t get foot trafﬁc, you’ve
got a problem.”
Arneth noted that area businesses
are already grappling with the city’s
decision to raise parking-meter
rates to $2 an hour and that the
construction project could further
compel people to do their shopping
elsewhere.
“We’re trying to get people in
here and we don’t want to give
them another excuse for staying
out.” ■
Jen Colletta can be reached at
jen@epgn.com.
canvassing for support and might
wait until they’ve secured more
cosponsors before introducing the
bill.
“We want to make sure we have
a good list of cosponsors before
introducing it,” Lewis said. “We
were hoping to target between 70
and 80 cosponsors, so we’re going
to shop it around and hopefully get
a few more and see where we’re
headed. We’re not sure exactly
when it’ll be introduced, but it will
be soon.” ■
Jen Colletta can be reached at
jen@epgn.com.

(215) 829-0170
253 S. 10th St.
First Floor
Philadelphia

PGN

www.philagaynews.com

PAGE 10

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Editorial
Open dialogue
This week, Mayor Nutter met with local LGBT
business owners, seeking their input on city budget
priorities as part of a series of stakeholder meetings.
These meetings, which have occurred over the past
few weeks, are part of an effort to open dialogue and
facilitate two-way communication between the mayor
and his constituents. Many of the meetings, like this
one, have not had prior publicity and weren’t open to
the public.
For others, like the civic-engagement forums that
started this week, the public is invited and encouraged
to attend. At the meetings, journalists will question
city ofﬁcials on the ﬁnancial state of the city, then
citizens will work in small groups to discuss priorities
and tradeoffs they are willing to make. The goal is to
move from discussion to action and provide tangible,
workable solutions to the budget crisis.
The output from these meetings will be used in the
formulation of the 2010 budget.
That the city is hosting public and targeted meetings
to ask for input reﬂects a new way of doing business in
City Hall.
To be sure, this wasn’t what Nutter was thinking
of when he campaigned on the slogan, “A New Way,
A New Day.” But, to his credit, Nutter apologized for
not including the public in the initial budget cuts in
November, and the recent outreach demonstrates an
openness to input and feedback. Government for the
people, by the people, if you will.
At the same time, the city’s leader needs to be able
to make tough choices; to consider the variables, weigh
the options and make a decision.
And the city is facing tough choices. Frankly, the
budget numbers seem intangible. A total shortfall
of $2 billion in the next ﬁve years. Additionally,
unemployment is above the national average. Realestate transfer-tax income is down and projected to
continue to decline.
Recently, the mayor asked his department heads to
develop budget scenarios with 10-, 20- and 30-percent
reductions. The results aren’t pretty. They include
ﬁre-departments layoffs and library closings — two
proposed cuts that drew public ire last year under the
ﬁrst budget cuts.
In keeping with last week’s editorial that “we’re all
in this together,” it is important to think about what
the essentials are, what the community needs vs. what
it wants, what it should expect government to do and
what is unreasonable, both on a community level and
as individual citizens.
And while the conversations at the local and national
levels differ in tone (the city is not planning massive
spending to stimulate the local economy), there are
overlaps.
Again, the community will need to consider what
its priorities are, what it can do to contribute and what
will provide the greatest beneﬁt. ■

Other Views Jennifer Vanasco
Waiting on the freedom to marry
My girlfriend and I are talking about
getting married. We’ve wandered
down Fifth Avenue in New York City
looking at engagement rings and have
spent hours trolling the Web studying
wedding dresses.
Our friends are excited. They’ve
offered us wedding books. Florist
tips. The names of photographers and
caterers.
We’ve also started imagining
where, exactly, we’d get married. We
split our time between New York and
Chicago, but we’d like to tie the knot in
Manhattan, where we fell in love.
We’re not even engaged yet, so
probably all the dreaming about
wedding-day speciﬁcs is a little
premature. In fact, it’s a lot premature,
because last weekend, New York state
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith
said that equal marriage would not
come to New York this year.
Despite a Democratic majority in the
Senate, he doesn’t have the votes.
Smith told those at an HRC gala:
“We are committed to pursuing [equal
marriage’s] passage. And the question
is not if; the question is when. So our
work still needs to happen for it to
happen this year. But I’m going to
need your help, and I’m going to need
your prayers ... we all want marriage
and family, and a home to raise our
families.”
The delay of marriage in New York
is a quandary for my girlfriend and me,

because New York actually recognizes
gay marriages performed out of
state. So if we were to get married in
Massachusetts or Connecticut — or
Canada, South Africa, Belgium, Spain
or another country that recognizes
marriage between gay couples — then
New York would happily list us on
their registers as married.
This means that we could take a
train to New Haven, get married in the
clerk’s ofﬁce, and then celebrate with a
ceremony and reception the next day or
next month.
But that’s not really what we want.
What we want is to have a wedding
surrounded by our family and friends
in the city we will make our home, and
— when the preacher pronounces us
“spouses for life” — have it be legal.
We’re not the only couple who feels
this way, of course, which is why this
is the 12th annual Freedom to Marry
Week. All over the country, couples
will be dropping in to their local city
halls to try to get marriage licenses.
They’ll be refused in most states, of
course, but the point will have been
made.
They’ll also be lobbying their
legislators, attending rallies and
— most importantly — talking to their
friends, colleagues and family about
marriage.
I myself will target brides.
We all know straight couples who are
getting married this year. One of them

is my baby sister and her ﬁancé. I don’t
want to upstage their wedding planning
or their big day, but I do want them
to understand how painful it is for me
that they can get married in New York
City but my girlfriend and I cannot.
It’s tough to have those conversations,
but they’re necessary. We now know
that merely knowing a gay person isn’t
enough to change someone’s vote.
But talking politics with them might
change their thinking. And it is changed
thinking that changes laws.
I also want wedding vendors to
understand that gay-marriage laws
affect them, because I believe that
pressure from the market is one of the
best ways to get unfair laws overturned.
So when I attend wedding expos
with my sister, I want to start saying,
“Hey, do you guys do gay weddings
too? You do? Oh, isn’t it a shame that
we can get married in Connecticut and
not New York? Think of all the gay
business you’d have ... ”
The New York state legislature needs
to know that the unions are behind us,
businesses are behind us — and they
should be behind us too.
In the meantime, my girlfriend and
I are hoping that New York will see its
way to equal marriage in 2010. We are
waiting on the freedom to marry. ■
Jennifer Vanasco is an award-winning
syndicated columnist. E-mail her at
jennifer.vanasco@gmail.com.

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Mark My Words

Street Talk

Mark Segal

On history, struggle and triumph
February is Black History
Month, and the Greater
Philadelphia Tourism
Marketing Corp. (the same
people who brought us
Philadelphia’s groundbreaking
gay tourism campaign) held
an opening-night party at the
National Constitutional Center
for the world-premiere exhibit
“America I AM.” The exhibit,
not to be missed by anyone
with even a passing interest
in our history, takes a look at the African-American
experience from the 1600s to today.
It is a remarkable display, which will at times bring
you to tears and other times bring a smile. Too often
slavery is the only narrative told about the pre-Civil
War black community in this country, but that is only
part of the picture. Black Americans were part of the
fabric of this country before it was a nation.
For those who think about pre-emancipation
blacks only as slaves, they will be surprised to see
lavish household items such as ﬁne china and elegant
clothing from the homes of free blacks. Another
section shows the rich culture of the African heritage
with intricate carved masks from the 1700s. The
exhibit takes us back through time to the present,
where it shows the inﬂuence of African Americans in
sports and entertainment, including artifacts such as
original gowns and suits owned by the likes of James
Brown, Gregory Hines and Michael Jordon. The
last item in the exhibit is a signed copy of President

PAGE 11

Obama’s speech on race given at the center during his
presidential campaign. I personally believe it was the
best and most poignant speech of his career to date.
Our community is still ﬁghting for its rights. Seeing
this exhibit will help you better understand that
struggle.
...
I cannot count the number of restaurant openings
we’ve had in the last couple of months. And I’m
thrilled they know that you — our community —
really care about good restaurants in this city. And, to
your credit, you are the trendsetters.
Last week’s opening was Union Trust, a new
steakhouse at 717 Chestnut St. You’ll be wowed the
minute you walk in and see the renovations they’ve
done on this stately building from the early 1900s.
It’s great to see these elegant buildings brought back
to life. And better yet, they enhanced what was the
original building rather than just putting up sheetrock
and a drop ceiling. You can feel the elegance, from
the four-story open room with a painted ceiling to the
marble and stone walls. And the food? The cocktail
shrimp were larger than some lobsters I’ve seen.
If anyone wonders if Philly is keeping its title
as a restaurant city, three upscale new steakhouses
have opened in the last two months. Two of them
claim to be the largest restaurants in the city. This
doesn’t even include the great Prime Rib or The
Palm. Philly’s going through its second restaurant
renaissance. ■
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at
mark@epgn.com.

Letters and Feedback

What do you hate most about
Valentine’s Day?

Sylvia Aliaga
student/florist
South Philadelphia

Jen Dennis
store manager
Society Hill

“Those chalky,
heart-shaped
conversation candies
that taste like shit.
And Valentine’s
Day should be in
the spring, when
romance is in the
air. Not in the dead
of winter, when it’s
freezing out.”

“It’s cheesy, and
there’s too much
pressure to do
something. If you have
feelings for someone,
those feelings
shouldn’t be contained
to one day. Why
single out Feb. 14?
Love should be shown
all year.”

Meredith Righter
bartender/pizza baker
Fishtown

Dominique Schroom
store owner
Society Hill

“Being single and
watching all the
couples on South
Street kissing and
hugging and getting
flowers. It makes
you want to rip the
sparkle out of their
eyes. I work on South
Street and see it
every year.”

“It’s too hyped and
commercialized.
We just went
through that during
Christmas. Why start
it up all over again
two months later?
Fortunately, I’m in
a relationship. But
single people must
really feel left out.”

Rethinking the scholarship options
I agree with your point on the
GLBT community boycotting
Israel [“Mark My Words,” Feb.
6-12]. On your point about
reactivating the Sally Tyre Fund, I
say what for? We now have more
nonproﬁt funds than we need or
can support. Since the Sally Tyre
Fund was created, there are not
just hundreds of GLBT funds, but
thousands serving all manner of
needs in our community. I might
also mention that we didn’t even
have the problem of AIDS when
Sally Tyre passed on. I might
suggest, for the cost of stafﬁng
and processing candidates for
scholarships, plus the accounting,
oversight and distribution, it would
be far wiser to contribute to The
Point Foundation that runs the
largest GLBT fund in America
doing the very same thing. It has
had tremendous success and has a
proven track record of graduating
students, which can be easily
seen on its Web site. This year
and for the next several years, we

will see many smaller nonproﬁts
either merge or go out of existence
because of lack of funding. In this
issue of PGN, you speak of the
cutbacks in support for our three
block-party functions, driving them
to cut back on programming as
well as seeking more help from the
public, which may not come. Not
a very good time to be reactivating
an unknown entity, which will
only take away from those GLBT
funds now struggling for support. I
recently had to deal with a similar
decision on the creation of yet
another foundation and, speaking
with many in the nonproﬁt
business, was told by one and all
there was no need for more funds.
I urge your reconsideration before
going forward with this idea.
Mel Heifetz
Philadelphia
Regarding “Philly PFLAG looks to
expand support, membership,” Feb.
6-12:

Fantastic article. Over the last
26 years, PFLAG Philadelphia
has done much to educate people
regarding LGBT issues, advocate
for the LGBT community and give
support to families and friends
as well as the LGBT individuals
themselves.
— Pat Tedora
This is a great article about a
wonderful organization, PFLAG.
— Gene Lieberman
Regarding “Family Portrait: R.
Eric Thomas,” Dec. 26, 2008-Jan.
1, 2009:
I was very inspired by the story
of R. Eric Thomas. It was nice
to see that he really believes in
marriage. I believe in it too: Even
though any relationship takes work,
I believe the work is worth it.
— Warren Akers

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6-7:30 p.m. at Mercer County
Area Early Intervention Services
in Trenton, N.J. For location, call

at 986 S. Broad St., Trenton, N.J.;
(609) 638-7264.
�
The Women’s Center of
Montgomery County’s lesbian
support group will meet from 79 p.m. at 101 Washington Lane,
Jenkintown; (215) 885-8440.
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United Methodist Church, Broad
and Arch streets; call Zak, (215)
848-4380, or Paul, (215) 307-0347.
� The Men’s Peer Support Group
FEB. 13
- 19, 2009
will meet for topical
discussion
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Alliance at Rutgers University will
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The Associated Press

introduced later in the state Senate.
The House legislation has 59
sponsors, none of them Republican,
though some GOP lawmakers have
said they’ll back it, Larson said.
“I know that there’s broad support
in the House,” he said.
Despite the enthusiasm, it’s
unclear if the measure will see any
action this session, with lawmakers
preoccupied with the state’s ﬁscal
crisis that has led to voluntary pay
cuts, court closings and Gov. Jim
Douglas’ proposal to lay off more
than 600 state workers.
“We’re still trying to decide
whether it’s something that we
would do this year,” said Democratic

PGN

House Speaker Shap Smith, who
supports the bill.
Supporters don’t expect the
debate over gay marriage to be
as rancorous as the one over civil
unions, which triggered a yearlong
battle and the ballot-box defeat of
some supportive lawmakers.
In nine years, the atmosphere in
Vermont has changed, said Rep.
David Zuckerman, a co-sponsor
from the Progressive Party.
“Nothing signiﬁcant changed
for many, many Vermonters nine
years ago. There was this great
fear. And what we’ve really seen in
the last nine years is that fear was
unfounded,” he said. ■

�

NY Senate lacks gay-marriage votes

Vt. moving closer to gay marriage
MONTPELIER, Vt. — Nine
years after becoming the ﬁrst state
to permit civil unions, Vermont
moved a step toward legalizing gay
marriage last Friday.
A bill that would allow samesex unions was introduced in the
Legislature, drawing a crowd of
several-hundred supporters at the
Statehouse in celebration.
“This really is a great day and a
part of moving forward to a time
when all Vermont couples will be
treated equally under our laws,”
said a sponsor, Rep. Mark Larson.
A similar bill is expected to be

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

New Calcutta House director
seeks to expand services
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
Although Matt Teter recently
moved to the Philadelphia area, he’s
no stranger to the housing issues
faced by the city’s HIV/AIDS
community.
As a former administrator at a
Midwestern HIV/AIDS housing
organization, Teter saw ﬁrsthand the
obstacles to adequate housing that
HIV/AIDS-positive individuals had
to overcome and is hoping to use
his experiences to affect positive
change for the local community.
Teter, 27, moved to Philadelphia
to take on the executive director
position at local HIV/AIDS-service
organization Calcutta House, which
provides housing and other support
services for people living with HIV/
AIDS, in mid-September.
“I found that it was a unique
opportunity to move to a city
that was in desperate need of the
programs and services that I felt
I could help deliver,” Teter said.
“I’m enjoying the opportunity and
challenge that it will be to expand
to meet the need for added AIDS
housing here in Philadelphia.”
Teter, who is openly gay, served
for three years at Doorways, an
HIV/AIDS-housing establishment
in St. Louis, as the director of
development and communications.
“Doorways served as a national
model for the full continuum of
AIDS-housing options. It was led
by Dr. Lynne Cooper, who’s one
of the foremost leading experts in
AIDS housing in the nation. The
time I spent there learning from one
of the best how to develop AIDS
housing and how to quickly address
the ever-changing need for it was
very valuable.”
Teter said that his time in St. Louis
showed him that to meet the varied
needs of the HIV/AIDS community,
no matter which city they’re living
in, service providers need to be
well attuned to the people they are
assisting.
“When you look at HIV/AIDS,
you can’t really ﬁnd another health
issue that our society faces that
has so dramatically changed over
a short period of time. If you look
at the changing demographics, the
fastest-growing group affected
by the disease is young AfricanAmerican women, many of whom
have dependent children. This is a
different demographic than we were
working with at the beginning of
the epidemic,” Teter said. “So when
it comes to housing, you need to
develop housing options that address

offers its clients.
Currently,
Calcutta
House has 31 private
rooms for individuals
with HIV/AIDS; the
organization’s Serenity
Court housing options
provide more direct
medical services and
assistance while its
Independence Place is
geared more toward
individuals who can live
on their own.
“There is a greater
need
than
we’re
meeting at this point
for highly supportive
housing options, so we
are currently looking
into expanding those
services. We are also
developing plans for
more
independentliving options for people
living with AIDS, and
MATT TETER Photo: Scott A. Drake we have every intention
of breaking ground on a
that changing demographic; instead new building that would offer those
of having one-bedroom apartments, options by the end of this year,” he
maybe two- or three-bedroom ones said. “Our long-term expansion plans
to accommodate children and other would be to continue those efforts
supportive services that go along and develop as much independent
with housing children.”
housing as we possibly can to
Now that he’s taken the reins address the overwhelming need for
of Calcutta House, Teter said those services in the Philadelphia
he’s looking to ﬁrst ensure the area.” ■
organization’s ﬁnancial stability
in light of the economic crisis, but Jen Colletta can be reached at
is also gearing up to expand the jen@epgn.com.
housing options the organization

Contemporary Service:
Last Sunday of month
Theology, Film Forum 7 p.m.
Fourth Friday of the month

Pastor Jerry deJesus

www.fbcphila1698.org

CONGREGATION BETH AHAVAH

at Rodeph Shalom

A GLBT synagogue welcoming people of all gender and sexual identities since 1975

JOIN US TWICE MONTHLY FOR SHABBAT SERVICES AT 8:00 PM
Coffee, cake & conversation at the oneg following services

Friday, February 13: Tu B’Shevat seder, 8:00 PM. There is no charge to attend, but please
RSVP to the BA phone line by Feb.6th so we can plan accordingly.
Sunday, March 1, The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene presents, “Mama’s Loshn Kugel,”
a traveling Yiddish revue featuring classic songs and sketches, 3:00 PM; $10/person,
payable at the door, Teller Auditorium at Rodeph Shalom. Supertitles will be projected
during the performance--no knowledge of Yiddish required. Please reserve by calling Beth
Ahavah at 215-923-2003 and leaving your name and phone number on our voicemail.
Saturday, March 14, The BA Players present this year’s Purim shpiel, “My Fair Esther,” 7:00 P.M.
Join us for an evening of fun, noisemaking and hamentashen. Get yourself to the shul on time!
Beth Ahavah and Rodeph Shalom are afﬁliated in spirit and share a sacred home. In July 2007 Beth
Ahavah afﬁliated with Rodeph Shalom. Beth Ahavah retains its congregational status within the Union
for Reform Judaism (URJ) and proudly offers its congregation dual membership at both synagogues.
Visit www.bethahavah.org for additional information, programming and directions

BUDGET
From Page 1
mayor to ask questions, give ideas
and raise concerns. The mayor was
able to engage with these folks and
get more background about where
we’re at directly from the folks in
the room.”
Tami Sortman, PGTC president,
said the meeting gave the
participants insight into a variety

of topics and allowed for the free
ﬂow of communication between
the mayor and the community.
“We covered budget costs,
safety, as well as who in his
administration he suggested we
should be getting to know and
meeting with,” Sortman said. “It
was deﬁnitely informative, that
was the main thing. The mayor got
his information out to us and then
asked us if we had any questions to

react to that information.”
Casarez noted that while it was
beneﬁcial for the mayor to meet
with the LGBT leaders, it was also
important for the participants to
become better acquainted with one
another.
“This was a time that was meant
to be a dialogue. It’s valuable to
get these folks together to talk
to each other. Some people may
be members of all three of these

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

organizations and others might
belong to one, so they don’t all
know each other and it was good
to get them all together. Many of
the things that are coming down
from the city right now require that
people talk to each other, so this is
not a time for groups to be isolated
and it’s important to get people
together. We know it’s tough right
now, and we want to make sure that
we’re talking to small businesses
and they’re talking to each other
so we can see more collaboration
going forward.”
Bill Gehrman, IBA president,
said that while the mayor gave
just a basic overview of the budget
situation, Nutter did mention the
city is providing about $13 million
for the development of commercial
corridors such as the Gayborhood.
“One of the positive things the
mayor said is that although there are
going to be more cuts, there is also
money that the city has announced
for commercial corridors, which is
great and seemed like a really good

thing for us,” Gehrman said.
He added the mayor stressed
that LGBT residents should try to
maintain a positive outlook and
continue to invest in the community
to preserve its success during the
city’s ongoing ﬁnancial crisis.
“The mayor encouraged us
to work together and be upbeat.
It’s going to be a tough time and
everybody’s going to have to
make decisions and deal with
challenges that they don’t want
to, but we’re going to get through
this,” Gehrman said. “The whole
community needs to stay upbeat as
much as we can and go about our
business. We need to keep going
out to dinners, patronizing our
businesses, donating to charities
and just continuing to live.”
To access a list of LGBT and
LGBT-friendly area businesses,
visit www.independencebusinessal
liance.com. ■
Jen Colletta can be reached at
jen@epgn.com.

International News
Lawyers discuss
LGBT rights
Gay-rights activists and lawyers
from 11 countries recently met
in South Africa for a four-day
workshop on legal strategies for
promoting LGBT rights in Africa.
The 45 participants came from
Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana,
Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia,
Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and
Zimbabwe.
It was the ﬁrst meeting between
lawyers who have worked on LGBTrights litigation and African LGBT
leaders. Participants reviewed key
pieces of litigation to discuss and
document lessons learned.
These
cases
included
an
unsuccessful
challenge
to
Botswana’s sodomy laws in 2003,
the prosecutions of 11 gay men in
Cameroon in 2006, the arrests of
two women in Rwanda on charges
related to sexual orientation in
2008 and the ongoing trial of 18
young men in Northern Nigerian
on charges of cross-dressing and
homosexuality.
Lawyers, activist leaders and
donors attending the meeting
acknowledged the importance
of impact litigation for repealing
sodomy laws and challenging
other discriminatory statutes and
policies.
Participants
also
discussed
the need for security for lawyers
defending LGBT clients and
causes. Many of the lawyers at the
meeting had faced attacks on their
reputations, attempts at disbarment
and even physical violence.

Olympian lands
PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS
sponsorship deal

built a cult following in Russia
despite
1.9 percent
of
After gaining
winning just
an Olympic
gold
the audience
in February.
medal
in theshare
Beijing
Games last
MTVwere
in Russia
also that
August, some
surprised
shows “South
Park,” but
yet
Matthew
Mitcham,
20,haswasn’t
to receive
criticismendorsement
from the
signed
to any
numerous
Protestant
deals
upon group.
his return to Australia.
Until recently, the openly gay
diver’s Olympic glory has only won
him a deal as the national face of
AussieBum, a swimwear brand.
Some argued that Mitcham’s
sexual orientation may have been
was announced
March
14 that
theItreason
he was not
offered
the
the
second
meeting
of
the
European
lucrative ad contracts that so many
Transgenderwere
Council
will be
held
Olympians
rewarded
before
this year in Germany.
him.
council,
comprised
ItThe
has now
been conﬁrmed
that
of Transgender
Europe,
the
Mitcham
will represent
telecom
Transgender
Network
Berlin
and
company Telstra at events and
TransInterQueer
product
launches. Berlin, will meet
May
in Berlin.
event
The2-4
company
said Their
he is a last
“positive
was
held
in
Vienna
in
2005.
role model for all Australians.”
Representatives from international
Mitcham declined to reveal how
activist groups and experts such as
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International are expected to attend

PAGE 21

Larry Nichols

much the Telstra deal is worth.
“I was a little bit worried [about
the lack of sponsors], so hopefully
this will be a snowball effect, but I
don’t want to count my chickens,”
he said. “If I can get the opportunity
where I would be able to train
without having to worry about
paying the bills, that would be the
ultimate goal.”
Mitcham currently trains 11 times
a week in preparation for the 2012
London Olympics.
He was the only out male athlete
to compete in the games.
Despite intensive coverage of
other gold medalists’ personal lives
during the Games, NBC failed
to mention Mitcham was gay, or
show footage of the diver’s partner
cheering him on and congratulating
him after the win.

German athlete
to get biopic
The story of a former East
German professional soccer player
who left the game after deciding to
come out of the closet will be made
into a ﬁlm.
Marcus Urban, 38, was sent
to a sports boarding school at 13
and played for the national youth
teams in the 1990s before settling
at second-division club Rot-Weiss
Erfurt.
“As I was incredibly aggressive, I
played central midﬁeld [and] was a
playmaker like Rafael van der Vaart
at Hamburg,” he said in an interview
last year. “When I left the place, I
was again the shy grey mouse. I was
full of complexes.”
Urban said he realized that life as
an openly gay professional player
would be impossible and gave up

his career. Today he works with
disabled artists.
Berlin-based
GrandHotel
Pictures has conﬁrmed a biopic
of Urban is in development. The
ﬁlm is based on Ronny Blaschke’s
“Versteckspieler,” a biography of
Urban published in Germany last
year.

by clients or police ofﬁcers. No
one has been brought to justice for
the killings.
“Transgender
women
in
Honduras must be terriﬁed
right now,” said Kim ManningCooper, an Amnesty International

spokesperson. “Their community
is experiencing serious violence
and the authorities are not doing
enough to protect them.” ■
Larry Nichols can be reached at
larry@epgn.com.

Activists speak out
for trans victims
Amnesty International has issued
an urgent appeal on behalf of a
Honduran transgender woman who
was arrested, beaten and threatened
with death if she reported what
happened to her.
The woman, who is an HIV/
AIDS activist and sex worker in
Palmira, alleged that police ofﬁcers
tried to rob her on Dec. 20 and then
assaulted her when she resisted.
The ofﬁcers then arrested the
woman, took her to a police station
and then to a hospital. Because she
was bleeding, the woman informed
the ofﬁcers that she is HIV-positive,
to which they responded by calling
her an “AIDS bitch,”she said. She
was released without charge.
The ofﬁcers allegedly threatened
to leave her “dead in the countryside”
if she spoke of the incident. Despite
this, the woman ﬁled a formal
complaint with the Human Rights
section of the Public Prosecutor’s
Ofﬁce.
The attack on the woman follows
the murders of three transgender
women in Honduras since October.
The women were all working as
sex workers near Palmira when they
were attacked.
Transgender women who work as
sex workers are frequentlyPAGE
attacked
15

Craig T. Wakefield DDS
A committed and caring dentist who has
built his practice on referrals from patients.

where
his
ex-wife
was once a member,
because he hated the
Center City’s Newest
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An church’s liberal politics
out-of-work truck driver smiled and Democrats, who
Personal Training Studio
Monday as he pleaded guilty to he
believed
“were
killing two people and wounding responsible
for
his
six others at a Tennessee church woes.”
CALL TODAY! • 215-399-3541
The
Unitarian
last summer because he considered
MoveForwardFitness.com
the liberal church “a den of un- Universalist
Church
American vipers.”
promotes
progressive
“Yes, ma’am, I am guilty as social work, including
charged,” Jim D. Adkisson, advocacy of women and
A/C Sale
58, told Criminal Court Judge gay rights.
$1699
“This was a hate
Mary Beth Leibowitz before she
Adkisson
sentenced him to life in prison crime,”
Heater
without parole on two counts of wrote in the four-page
ﬁrst-degree murder and six of suicide letter obtained
Heater check-up
by The Knoxville News NO REMORSE: Convicted gunman Jim David
attempted murder.
Starting At:
$80.00
Adkisson was scheduled to Sentinel. “This was a Adkisson (right) and his attorney Mark
stand trial next month in the July symbolic killing. Who Stephens are seen in court Feb. 9 in
2008 rampage at the Tennessee I wanted to kill was Knoxville, Tenn. Adkisson pleaded guilty to
Valley United Unitarian Church in every Democrat in the all charges in the July 27, 2008 shooting at
Knoxville, but decided to enter a House and Senate ... the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist
plea deal that virtually guarantees [and] everyone in the Church. Two were killed and six others were
he will never leave prison alive.
mainstream
media. wounded. A judge sentenced Adkisson to
Public defender Mark Stephens But these people were life in prison. AP Photo: Lisa Norman-Hudson
said a mental-health expert inaccessible to me.
be used if Adkisson rescinds his
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“I couldn’t get to the generals plea in the next 30 days. Stephens
determined
Adkisson
was
competent to make the plea, though and high-ranking ofﬁcers of the did not return several calls to the
Stephens was prepared to argue at Marxist movement so I went
����������� trial that his client was insane at after the foot soldiers, the chicken AP.Nassios said Adkisson bought
the time of the crime. Adkisson [expletive] liberals that vote in the shotgun a month before the
believed entering the plea was “the these traitorous people.”
attack, sawed off the barrel at
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The Tennessee Valley United his home and carried the weapon
honorable thing to do,” Stephens
���������
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said.
Unitarian Church, he wrote, was into the church in a guitar case
���������������
Assistant District Attorney “a den of un-American vipers.”
that he bought two days before
�����������������������
The prosecutor’s ofﬁce refused the shooting. He had more than
Leslie Nassios said Adkisson
�����������������
gave a statement to police and left to release the letter to The 70 shotgun shells with him and
���������
a suicide note. They showed he Associated Press, saying it was not planned to keep ﬁring until ofﬁcers
planned the attack on the church, part of court records and could still killed him, police have said. But
church members intervened and
wrestled him to the ground.
Victims and church members
wept as the prosecutor described
the wounds that killed longtime
Philadelphia FIGHT joins the
“Without his tireless work and
church member Greg McKendry,
60, who blocked the shots from
vision, many more people
AIDS community in mourning
hitting others, and retired English
professor Linda Kraeger, who had
would have perished from
the death of Marty Delaney,
come to see a play at the church.
The church honored them during
HIV/AIDS. As a treatment
founder of Project Inform.
a 60th anniversary celebration on
Sunday.
advocate and activist, Marty
Two survivors each lost vision
in one eye, one was left in a coma
always was keenly analytical,
Martin Delaney
for several days after the shooting
Martin came to Philadelphia
and another has endured several
Dec. 9, 1945 well-informed, articulate,
follow-up surgeries since.
many times over the years to
Jan. 23, 2009
“I think I am going to move on,”
persistent,
tough-minded,
said
victim Tammy Sommers, 38,
present lifesaving information
who suffered a traumatic brain
gracious and fair ... He was a
injury and only recently returned
and hope to people living with
to work. “But he is in prison ... and
formidable activist and a dear
I want him to stay in prison.”
HIV/AIDS and their allies.
Several
church
members
friend.”
believed Adkisson showed no
remorse.
-Dr. Anthony Fauci,
“When he came into the
We will miss him very much.
courtroom, he had a look of sheer
Director, National Institute of
evil on his face. He really did.
Evil as well as arrogance,” said
Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Vicki Masters, who directed the
children’s play. ■

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The Associated Press

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

Detour
A departure from the ordinary

PAGE 23

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 24

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Soap opera to air first lesbian wedding

BRIDE-TO-BE: Eden Riegel (“Bianca”) on “All My Children,” which airs
Monday-Friday, 1 p.m., on ABC. Photo: ABC/Yolanda Pez
By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
The hit soap opera “All My
Children” is set to make its next
great stride in LGBT television
visibility with the wedding of lesbian
characters Bianca Montgomery and
Reese Williams the week of Feb.
16.
The wedding is the latest in a series
of daytime-TV ﬁrsts for the Emmywinning show, which has also been
nominated for numerous GLAAD
Media Awards in recognition of the
its LGBT-positive storylines.
Eden Riegel debuted as Bianca
on the show in 2000 and, ever
since, the 28-year-old actor has
portrayed the character coming out
to her mother, Erica Kane, famously
played by Susan Lucci, and, in 2003,
participated in the ﬁrst lesbian kiss
on an American daytime soap to the
character’s then-girlfriend Lena.
And those were just a couple of
the tamer episodes in Bianca’s life.
Some of the more controversial
events for her (and gay and straight
fans alike) have included being
raped and having the baby, which
was stolen from her and returned
amid a large fan outcry. She also had
a brief romance with a transgender
lesbian rock star.
And the next chapter in Bianca’s
story is set to make history.

Riegel said the creators of the
show have always tried to keep it
edgy and topical while staying true
to the characters.
“It’s what ‘All My Children’
has always done,” she said. “The
show was created by Agnes Nixon
and she’s always been extremely
devoted to doing not just your
everyday soap story, but using the
medium to push the envelope and
show people that we’ve always been
on the cutting edge of social issues.
The show had the ﬁrst abortion ever
shown on television and we kept
going with that legacy of getting
people’s stories that are maybe
more challenging than what they
otherwise might see on soap operas.
Also using the unique medium that
we have, we have the opportunity to
get into people’s living rooms every
day, to reach middle America and
reach people who maybe wouldn’t
be exposed to all sorts of types of
people in their lives, including
people who don’t know an actual
gay person. We’re saying here’s this
person, letting them invest in that
character, letting them fall in love
with them, seeing them as a human
being and therefore opening people’s
minds. It’s a great opportunity and I
think the show has always prided
themselves on taking advantage of
it.”
Riegel added that after playing

Bianca for so long, she feels very
protective of her character and
is happy to see her evolve to this
momentous point in her life.
“When I started the show, I was
a teenager,” Riegel said. “I’ve seen
her through many, many struggles.
She’s certainly a character who’s
had her hardships and I was excited
when they offered me [the chance]
to come back for this story where
Bianca would be in a real committed
relationship with someone who
wanted her 100 percent. I was
told that it would be a lesbian
romance. We would deal with all
the issues that would be unique to
a lesbian couple but, really, we’d be
dealt with in the same way as any
heterosexual couple on the show.
That was important to me.”
Riegel added that Tamara
Braun, who plays Reese, is equally
passionate about the two characters
and their on-screen relationship.
“The depth of our actual feelings
for each other is palpable when
we’re on screen with each other,”
Riegel said. “We really love each
other and it’s not hard to fool myself
into thinking I’m in love with her.”
Considering the salacious and
sensational story lines that pop
up in soap operas, it can be hard
to imagine why something like a
lesbian wedding hasn’t been done
before now. But Riegel said that
when it comes to gay characters and
issues, soap operas have always had
to walk the line between turning
audiences on and off.
“Gay marriage as an issue has
only recently become an important
one in our national identity and
conversation,” she said. “It hasn’t,
unfortunately, been an issue that
has been on the forefront of the
world. I applaud ‘All My Children’
for taking it step by
step
because
they
really never turned the
viewers off. Everyone
acknowledged that it
was a risk with having
a gay character on
this traditional soap
opera. Housewives are
our target audience.
When
people
ﬁrst
found out that Erica
Kane’s daughter was
going to be a lesbian,
there was an absolute
outcry. So when the kiss
happened, there were a
few afﬁliates that didn’t
broadcast it because
they were afraid of a
backlash. Those were in
very conservative areas
of the country.”
According to Riegel,
the powers behind the

show anticipated the controversy
surrounding these events in Bianca’s
life.
“When I ﬁrst took the job, I had
to have a top-secret meeting with
the executive producers so that they
could drop the bombshell on me
that my character was gay and give
me an opportunity to back out,” she
said. “Nobody was more surprised
than me that everybody was taking
it so seriously. I have gay family
members and friends. Of course I
wouldn’t have a problem with it. I
think everybody wanted to handle it
with the utmost sensitivity. To me it
was no big deal. So I was surprised
when it became a controversy at
ﬁrst.”
Now that time has passed,
Riegel said she has been pleasantly
surprised at how the show’s audience
has embraced her character, which
allowed the show to go farther with
the lesbian couple than they had
dared to go before.
“We couldn’t be as free as
expressing physical love on the
show at that time, but now things
have changed,” she said. “We kiss
on the show practically daily. We
caress and speak lovingly. Bianca
and Reese are shown in bed together
not clad in very much. I feel like
people are getting used to it. Just the
fact that we can do a gay wedding on
daytime television shows that we’re
making great progress in this world
of ours. I hope it’s no big deal at all.
People might go, ‘That’s nice,’ and
then move on.”
Riegel said because Bianca’s
story was told gradually over the
course of years, the audience was
more willing to accept her and her
orientation.
“I think the only reason we’re
seeing two women getting married

is because the fans are ready for
it — clamoring for it, actually,”
she said. “Because the show has
painstakingly told the story step
by step, it’s allowed the audience
to be open to this young woman.
Because she’s Erica’s daughter,
they’ve invested in her. They’ve
grown to love her just like any other
soap-opera heroine. It’s come to the
point where people are rooting for
her. When her baby was stolen from
her, they were rooting for a lesbian
woman to get her baby back. Now,
they are rooting for her to have
happiness and ﬁnally walk down
the aisle, which not everyone in
this country agrees should happen,
but for people who watch ‘All My
Children,’ it should open their minds
and hearts to the possibility.”
It may have taken a while for the
housewives of America to accept
Bianca, but she has become an icon
in the gay community — a role that
Riegel, who is straight, takes very
seriously.
As a California resident who has
a gay sister, Riegel said she makes
every effort to portray Bianca as a
three-dimensional character. She
also said she was devastated when
Proposition 8 passed in November,
overturning the rights of samesex couples to marry in the state.
And while Prop. 8 isn’t directly
mentioned in the wedding episode,
it did have an inﬂuence.
“I think it’s timely,” she said. “I
don’t think it’s a coincidence that
we’re telling this story now and
have been telling it since Prop. 8
was still on the ballot. Pine Valley
is in Pennsylvania, so we haven’t
dealt speciﬁcally with the issues in
California. But we have talked about
how we want to have a wedding in
Connecticut, where it is legal for

Riegel said the issue of gay
marriage was one of the factors that
prompted her to return to the show.
The actor left “All My Children”

BRAUN AND RIEGEL Photos: ABC/Lou Rocco

twice since debuting as Bianca:
once in 2005, returning in 2006, and
leaving again in 2007. She said she
feels very fortunate that the show
has left the door open for her and
the character of Bianca to come and
go.
“It is my family,” she said of
the show. “It is my home. But I’m
a young actress and I’ve been on
the show for a long time. I want to
experience other things and roles. So
being away from the show affords
me other opportunities that I’m
dying to take advantage of. I think
‘All My Children’ will always be a
part of my life, but there’s a lot out
there. That’s why I left last time.”
Given the nature of soap operas,
the chances of Bianca and Reese
(or any character/couple, for that
matter) living happily ever after are
slim. But Riegel has faith that these
two will be able to endure whatever
crazy plot twists the show’s writers
dream up for them.
“They are two women who love
each other,” she said. “It doesn’t
mean their relationship will be
without struggle. I believe they share
a connection that Bianca hasn’t been
able to have in past relationships.
She’s older now. She’s wiser and
she knows a little bit more about
who she is. She’s past this drama
that has been crowding her life and
now she can really focus 100 percent
on her relationship and family. So I
think they will get through anything
that the soap-opera world throws at
them.”
Wedding bells ring for Bianca
and Reese next week on ABC’s “All
My Children.” ■
Larry Nichols can be reached at
larry@epgn.com.

PGN

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PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

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scottdrakephotos@gmail.com

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

We love to get picked up.

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 26

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Out artists converge on Philly for Valentine’s Day
By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
If the idea of ﬂowers, a heartshaped box of fancy chocolates
and an overpriced dinner just aren’t
doing it for you this Valentine’s
Day, take heart (no pun intended),
as the City of Brotherly Love is
overﬂowing with concerts that are
sure to set the mood.
One of the hottest tickets in town
is sure to be out singer/songwriter
Rufus Wainwright, who is taking
a break from his latest project
to perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 14 at
Kimmel’s Verizon Hall, 260 S.
Broad St.
How did Philly get so lucky?
“I’m pretty homebound these days
writing this opera that’s premiering
July 10,” Wainwright said of the
upcoming “Prima Donna.” “One
of the perks of New York is it’s
close to Philadelphia. There’s this
incredible metropolis just an hour
away. Also, I really, really am dying
for a cheesesteak sandwich, I have
to admit. I’ve been thinking about it
for months.”
It’s hard to imagine that Philly’s
signature delicacy would be enough
to entice Wainwright to venture
south and work on Valentine’s Day,
but fortunately love has put the
troubadour in a generous mood.
“I have an amazing boyfriend
who really treats every day like
Valentine’s Day, almost to annoyance
occasionally,” Wainwright said. “So

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
it’s nice to come out and spread the
love that I am getting to the rest of
the people. I’ve got to dump some
love.”
Nothing screams Valentine’s Day
like the words “spread” and “dump,”
but Wainwright is conﬁdent that this
special intimate performance will be
more than enough to fan the ﬂames
of romance.
“It’s my solo show,” he said of
what his fans can expect. “Every
show is kind of different from the
next. Unlike the ‘Release the Star’
shows, those are always set lists
with costumes and lights. This
show really depends on the mood
of the evening and the mood of my
subconscious. And also who’s cute

in the audience.”
Rufus will be joined by his sister,
fellow singer-songwriter Martha
Wainwright, as his opening act.
“We’re
deﬁnitely
singing
together,” he said. “If we didn’t
sing together, my mother would cut
me.”
See Rufus while you can, as next
time he’ll be behind the scenes
launching his ﬁrst opera, a role
he ﬁnds himself adapting to with
surprising ease.
“I’m excited, and horriﬁed as
well, by how easily I’ve ﬁt into the
maniacal composer role,” he said.
“I’m just ready to chop off heads
and maim people to get my art
ahead. It’s very classical, melodic
and romantic. I’m leaning on what
I know best. I think it’s still viable
and it’s not a throwback necessarily,
but you can basically hear the music
that has inﬂuenced me over the
years. I’m not pulling any freaky
punches. Just sit down and enjoy
the beauty.”
Like Wainwright, Philadelphiabased singer and bandleader Eddie
Bruce has an appreciation for the
classics as well, which may be
why he’s performing a tribute to
Tony Bennett through Feb. 22 at
Morgan’s Cabaret at The Prince
Music Theatre, 1412 Chestnut St.
From an early age, Bruce seemed
destined to become one of the most
sought-after bandleaders in the
region, as well as a tireless performer
and cabaret artist — who now has

EDDIE BRUCE
more that 3,000 shows under his
belt, playing everything from Top
40, R&B, disco, house and swing.
But jazz was his ﬁrst love.
“All my friends were listening
to The Beatles and The Stones,”
he said. “I was listening to Tony
Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald, all the
great jazz singers. When I was a
really little kid, like 6 or 7 years old,
my mother took me to The Latin
[Casino] when it was in Philly and
the headliner was Ella Fitzgerald.
Growing up in the city where the
‘Friday With Frank Show’ was on
every night, I got to listen to Frank
Sinatra every night growing up. That
had a great inﬂuence on me learning
all these songs and my appreciation

for the Great American Songbook.”
Bruce has been a fan of Bennett
for most of his life, but it wasn’t until
he caught one of Bennett’s recent
concerts that he considered putting
together a tribute performance.
“The inspiration to do the Bennett
show itself came from having seen
him at the Mann Music Center two
years ago and being reminded of
how much his music has meant to
me,” he said. “A lot of his songs
over the years have played a role in
my life and so I thought this might
be an honest kind of show to be able
to talk about how these song parallel
some of my experiences.”
Bruce said he even went out of
his way to buy a front-row seat
for the show so he could study
the legendary performer’s every
nuance.
“I learned an incredible amount
of things watching that close,” he
said. “One of the astounding things
for me was at 81 years old, he did 90
minutes without even a sip of water
or sitting down on a stool. It was an
extremely vigorous performance for
a man that age.”
For tickets or more information
on Wainwright, visit www.
kimmelcenter.org
or
www.
rufuswainwright.com or call (215)
790-5847. For tickets or information
on Bruce, visit www.eddiebruce.
com or call (215) 569-9700. ■
Larry Nichols can be reached at
larry@epgn.com.

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 27

Out playwright’s dark drama opens in Philly
By Larry Nichols
PGN Staff Writer
Christopher Shinn knows how to
make the most of very little.
In his dark and gripping drama
“Dying City,” the openly gay
playwright and Pulitzer Prize
ﬁnalist needs only two actors, three
characters and a sparse stage to
tackle issues such as loss, grief and
identity in the shadows of war.
“I wanted the play to be really
primal and I thought that two actors
on a relatively bare stage was about
as primal as you can get,” he said. “I
wanted a play that would strip away
any ability to distract the audience
and get off the main track. Let me
put one man and one woman on
a basically bare stage and really
stay in the intensity of that kind of
showdown.”
The drama in “Dying City”
revolves around Peter and Kelly,
played by Nathan Emmons and
Pamela Sabaugh, respectively. Both
are trying to cope and move on after
the loss of Craig, Kelly’s husband

and Peter’s twin brother, who died
ﬁghting in Iraq.
Shinn said that while the Iraq
War is the catalyst for the drama in
“Dying City,” the play isn’t meant as
a commentary on the war.
“I don’t believe in making
political statements in art,” he said.
“I think art has a place in exploring
the political, but ﬁrst and foremost I
wanted to reveal people in all their
depth and complexity.”
And there is enough complexity
to go around. Emmons plays both
Peter, who is gay, and Craig (in
ﬂashbacks) in “Dying City.” Shinn
said that having identical twins of
differing sexuality adds to the hard
questions about truth and identity in
the play.
“I think it’s interesting when you
think of identical twins because,
particularly with gay people,
there’s a lot of speculation on what
causes homosexuality,” he said.
“Is it genetic? Is it physiological
or hormonal? Does it have to do
with early childhood experiences?
Most studies done of identical

CHRISTOPHER SHINN
twins show that they share the same
sexuality about 50 percent of the
time. You can look at it two ways.
It would seem that maybe there
is a genetic component at least
in half the cases. But in the other
half, you can’t explain the different
sexualities based on what people are
born with. I think that really raises
fascinating questions about what
human sexuality is. My interest in

the human psyche and looking at
identical twins is an interesting way
to ask how are we the same and
how are we different based on the
experiences we go through.”
“Dying City” is just the latest
in the OBIE award-winning
playwright’s repertoire of tales of
secrecy and tragedy, which Shinn
said are universal to the human
experience.
“Everybody has secrets,” he said.
“There’s no way to get through life
without experiencing loss. Those
are two things that only reoccur [in
my work] only because they are
so prominent in the lives of every
human being.”
Shinn added that while his stories
and plays are in no way based on his
own life, they do emanate from his
“unconscious.”
“I just try to remain open to
whatever is happening inside of
me,” he said of his inspiration. “That

doesn’t feel like it comes from me
or certainly anything deliberate
on my part. And once that starts
happening, I just try to make more
and more space for it to happen of
its own accord. Then I just try to
pay attention to it. There’s very little
that’s autobiographical, but there’s
no way to write outside of your
own experience. Everything I write
comes from inside of me. I think
it’s the only authentic way to do it.
I think that every character in every
play I’ve written represents a part of
me.”
Amaryllis Theatre Company
presents “Dying City” through
Feb. 22 at The Playground at the
Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St. For
more information, visit www.
amaryllistheatre.org or call (215)
564-2431. ■
Larry Nichols can be reached at
larry@epgn.com.

Ann Hampton Callaway

Only 45 minutes from Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 28

Offline

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Bruce Yelk

Love is in the air! And in the bars!
If you travel
to any city in
the country
and ask locals
what they
know about
Philadelphia,
they’ll
probably say
cheesesteaks,
Rocky, the
Art Museum or Independence
Hall. Apart from our cultural,
historic and artistic icons, most
also know Philadelphia as “The
City of Brotherly Love.” Less
well known is that William Penn
created this motto early in the
city’s history to reﬂect a place
where everyone is welcome
regardless of any personal

differences.
In a culture characterized
by immediate gratiﬁcation and
short attention spans, it’s notable
that this motto has been utilized
so extensively throughout
Philadelphia’s history. From
advertising campaigns and
historical sites to parks and works
of art, we celebrate this tradition
in a wide variety of ways. So, it’s
in the spirit of “brotherly love”
that I offer this week’s column.
Enjoy it, and don’t forget to
spread the love!
For couples making last-minute
plans for Valentine’s Day, one
of the most incredible spots to
celebrate is XIX at the Bellevue,
200 S. Broad St. Chef Marc
Plessis has created a romantic

four-course menu, highlighted
by oysters, scallops, sea bass,
tenderloin and a chocolatealmond macaroon. Dinner is $65
a person, but it’s well worth the
investment to have a Valentine’s
Day that you’ll remember forever.
Reservations are going fast, so
XIX is excited to offer this special
Valentine’s Day menu tomorrow
night and this evening. Visit www.
nineteenrestaurant.com for more
information.
For my single readers, there’s
no reason to sit at home this
weekend. In fact, there’s no better
time to get out, meet some new
prospects and poke fun at all the
Valentine’s Day outrageousness.
Consider heading over to the
Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St., on

OUTonline

Saturday for Cupid’s Burlesque
Gay Bingo. Starting at 7 p.m.
and for the bargain price of $20,
you can enjoy an entertaining
evening ﬁlled with camp humor
and over-the-top personalities
headlined by Miss Shady Pines.
Remember, 100 percent of the
proceeds beneﬁt AIDS Fund, one
of our community’s exemplary
charitable organizations. Visit
www.aidsfundphilly.org/gaybingo
for additional details.
Getting past Feb. 14, many of
us will share a different kind of
“love” this President’s Day. In
honor of a well-deserved threeday weekend, I’ll be hosting the
grand opening of 101 at O.N.E.
on Rittenhouse Square, 121
S. 19th St. As the ﬁrst weekly

LGBT party taking place outside
the Gayborhood since Shampoo
Nightclub opened in the 1990s,
101 will bring together some of
the community’s most notable
personalities starting at 9 p.m.
every Sunday evening. The kickoff event this Sunday features $3
drinks from 9-11 p.m., music by
local DJ/producer Robbie Tronco
and a bartending competition,
where the winner will secure
a weekly job at 101. With no
school or work on Monday, this
is a great opportunity to get out
to a different part of town and
celebrate with friends. Visit
www.nightlifegay.com to sign
up for reduced admission before
See OFFLINE Page 30

Jason Villemez

Steps on starting a family
Starting a
family can be
difﬁcult for
any couple,
but especially
for LGBT
couples who
face more
challenges
in their path.
Although prevalent religious and
cultural stigmas are gradually
dissolving, some states have
completely banned options such as
adoptions as well as foster care for
gay couples, making the road to
parenthood more difﬁcult.
However, as it becomes more
and more prevalent, resources will
become greater and people wiser.
As more people become used
to the idea of gay marriage and
traditional ideas of relationships
and families start to fade, the idea
of gay families will also become
more acceptable. And, as always,
the more people see of us, the more
accepting they will be of us as gay
couples, individuals and families.
One of my gay friends recently
wrote in a Facebook note about
his strong desire to be a father,
to which I promptly reponded he
should pursue.
“But I have no idea what method
to use,” he replied to me. We
discussed different options like
surrogacy and adoption, but beyond
the deﬁnitions of the words, we

were both lacking knowledge about
which route would be best and how
to even start the process. And as we
remembered the practical aspects
like ﬁnances, emotional investment
and legal issues, our lack of insight
made the conversation both short
and daunting.
Fortunately, I found a great site
called The Rainbow Babies (www.
therainbowbabies.com), written by
doctors, lawyers, counselors and
social workers, many of whom are
LGBT parents themselves.
The site is divided into two
primary sections, which we can
generalize into “before” and
“after,” with “before” sitting at
the top of the site and the “after”
section underneath.
The ﬁrst section focuses on
how to become a parent. Options
such as insemination, surrogacy,
adoption and pregnancy are
discussed in depth, with another
section on raising children. Other
topics include known-versusanonymous sperm donation,
which one of a couple should be
the biological mother and how to
choose a surrogacy agency, most
of which couples probably hadn’t
thought about before deciding to
become parents.
And, for those who have
contemplated but not ultimately
decided to raise a child, the section
also features articles on whether
adoption, surrogacy or pregnancy

suits a particular person or if
parenting is right for someone in
general. It gives me no shame in
saying some of us simply aren’t ﬁt
to be parents at this point in time
or, well, ever. I am completely
satisﬁed with spoiling my nieces
and taking them to movies.
For aunts and uncles who need
a kid-friendly movie idea or those
parents in need of some good
tips, check the “after” section.
It has pages of movie and book
reviews, personal stories from real
families, spiritual and ﬁnancial
advice and helpful information
like maps charting state-by-state
discrimination laws, government
reports, adoption forms and
sperm-donor contracts.
No matter how complex or
frustrating the process may be,
parenting is a part of life that
should be enjoyed and cherished
by anyone serious enough to
undertake the challenge. One
article on the site discusses
a study showing that LGBT
families, despite discrimination,
are as happy as mainstream
families. As news like that
spreads, we’ll see our community
become (even more) full of
strollers, school nights, chores
and curfews. (And, hopefully, less
screaming.) ■
Contact Jason with feedback at
outonline@gmail.com.

OFFLINE
From Page 28
midnight or for more information.
For those planning ahead, mark
your calendar for Feb. 22, as our
favorite ﬁlm icons gather to share
their love for costars, family and
colleagues at the 2009 Oscars.

43. Bear
44. Nominating a homophobe?
48. Leibman of “Angels in
America”
49. Gene’s makeup
50. Old streaker over the
Atlantic
53. Put same-sex wedding vows
on a plaque?
58. “Uh-oh!” to Lord Byron
59. Counterfeiters’ nemeses
60. Lurer of phallic fish
61. Not straight
62. Began a hole, with “off”
63. One to ten, e.g.
64. Changes from a couple to a
threesome
65. “Blowjob” filmer Warhol
66. Bone in the back

Many local bars will show the live
broadcast (including 101, which
will be hosted by and beneﬁt the
Sapphire Fund), but if you’re
into something a bit more formal,
consider heading to the Ethical
Society of Philadelphia, 1906
Rittenhouse Square, for its annual
Red Carpet Party. Doors open at
7 p.m. with the Oscar broadcast

beginning promptly at 8. Guests
will be treated to gourmet
food, as well as complimentary
wine and beer throughout the
evening. Advance tickets for the
event are $50, and all proceeds
beneﬁt the First Annual GLBT
Artists Festival. Visit www.
traversetheater.org for all the
details.

That’s just about all the “love”
I have to give this week, but
don’t forget to check out “Gossip
Tuesdays” at Bump Lounge, 1234
Locust St., from 10 p.m.-2 a.m.
Though it’s typically a slow night
at the bars, Bump has plenty to
keep those of us who venture out
early in the week entertained. Visit
www.bumplounge.com for more

information or to preview drink
and food menus.
Thanks for checking in. ’Til
next time, get ofﬂine and see what
your community has to offer! ■

If you have comments or
information on upcoming events,
e-mail Bruce@nightlifegay.com,
reference Ofﬂine.

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

Family Portraits
If you’re breathing a little
easier these days, you might have
Eric Cheung to thank. Cheung is
the senior attorney and program
manager of the Clean Air Council
and is the former coordinator of
the Greater Philadelphia Clean
Cities program, which promotes
alternative-fuel vehicles. I put
down my inhaler long enough to
talk to Cheung this week.
PGN: So how did you get to work
today?
EC: [Laughs.] I rode my bike. I
pretty much ride it everywhere.
PGN: Are you from Philadelphia?
EC: I grew up in the King of
Prussia area and went to Upper
Merion High School. I just moved
to the city three years ago, but
I’ve lived in the suburbs most of
my life.
PGN: Where did you go for
higher learning?
EC: I went to Villanova for
undergrad and studied accounting
and then went to University of
Chicago for law school.
PGN: What did your parents do?
EC: My father was a chemist and
my mother did ﬁnancial work.
Originally she was a forecaster
and then she became a CPA.
I have a brother who lives in
Delaware and he’s a computer
engineer.

PAGE 31

Suzi Nash
PGN: What traits do you think you
got from your parents?
EC: I think I ‘m socially outgoing
like my mother. My father is an
obsessive recluse and my brother is
pretty shy too. My mother is more
outgoing than I am but I’m the next
most sociable in the family. I can’t
think of anything that I got from
my father.
PGN: What’s your ancestry?
EC: My parents emigrated from
China.
PGN: Did you play a lot with your
brother as a kid?
EC: He’s seven years older than
me, so we weren’t around each
other a lot socially. But I really
looked up to him. He helped me
with my homework and I always
felt that he understood things
better than I did. I might get an A,
but I always felt that he actually
understood the work. I remember
in physics having a teacher that
wasn’t good at explaining things,
so I’d cry to my brother and he’d
make it clear.
PGN: What did you like to do as
a kid?
EC: I was a bit of a loner until high
school. I used to collect toys. I had
a hodgepodge of ﬁgurines that I’d
play with. Masters of the Universe,
Star Wars ﬁgures and Transformers
would play along with Garﬁeld
and the Smurfs. I would create a

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fantasy world where all the toys
would get along. I didn’t really
socialize much. I talked to people
in school, but I wouldn’t go over
to people’s homes or anything like
that.
PGN: How did you blossom?
EC: I met a guy in high school
who had a better understanding
of social friendships who really
drew me out. He’d call me just to
talk, which felt really weird to me
at ﬁrst. I wasn’t used to people
calling or wanting to hang out with
me, but he was persistent and after
that I began to open up to people. I
joined the track team and really got
into extracurricular activities.
PGN: What were some of your
activities?
EC: I did everything. I ﬁnally came
out of my shell and was really
empowered to do everything. I
always got good grades but now
I started to pad my résumé for
college. I participated in choir,
orchestra, math club, academic
decathlon, cross-country, the
environmental club, you name it. I
was the valedictorian of my class.
It made me feel good about myself
but at the same time it was one of
the most difﬁcult times of my life.
It was a terriﬁc workload to take
on. I’d routinely go to bed at 2 a.m.
and be up at 6 a.m. When I went to
Villanova, it was actually a break,
it was so easy in comparison. Law

ERIC CHEUNG Photo: Suzi Nash
school was a different thing: For
the ﬁrst time in my academic life I
felt that, at my best, I was only in
the middle of the group. It was a
good growth experience. It taught
me to enjoy learning instead of just
focusing on the grade.
PGN: So how did you end up as an
environmentalist?
EC: Chicago University was a
great law school but it focused on

getting people into lucrative law
ﬁrms after graduation. There wasn’t
much focus on public interest, so
I worked at a law ﬁrm for a year
because I didn’t know what else to
do. It didn’t work out, so I decided
to follow my heart and choose the
area I wanted to focus on. I always
was interested in the environment
and wanted to lend my skills to the
See PORTRAITS Page 32

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 32

PORTRAITS
From Page 31
cause. It’s funny: The nonproﬁt
community is very informal and
in some ways hidden from sight,
so it was kind of hard to ﬁgure out
how to get in. It’s mostly through
networking. I called the Clean Air
ofﬁce out of the blue and talked to
[executive director] Joe Minott and

asked him what opportunities were
available for someone with a legal
background. About a month later,
I went to a Clean Air Council 5K
run. I wanted to run for the cause
and I thought it would be a good
networking opportunity. Joe saw
me and told me he might have a job
for me. And here I am.
PGN: So, changing gears, do you
collect anything?

EC: I used to collect stamps, but
I’m not very active with them
anymore. I have a problem getting
rid of things, though, so I’m a
bit cluttery. I’m into horror and
fantasy, so I collect things that are
related, whether it’s comic books,
music or ﬁgures.
PGN: What’s your most prized
possession?
EC: Back in ’96 I got an

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009
appointment book. I would write in
my meetings and things that I was
doing. I kept the ﬁrst one because
it was a ‘Garﬁeld’ book and I
loved the little comic strips inside.
As they started accumulating, I
enjoyed having a reminder of what
I’d been doing at a particular point
in time. Now I kind of use it as
a journal. I don’t write thoughts
down but keep track of what
I’ve done each day. If I’m going
through something troubling, I can
look back and say, “You’ve been
through this before and you got
through it.” As time passes, I’ve
learned that there’s nothing that
bad that you can’t get through.
PGN: A fond childhood memory?
EC: I loved going to Disney
World with my family. I liked
Tomorrowland and later the
Epcot Center and the Journey Into
Imagination attraction. Before
my mother died, I took her back
to Disney World. My favorite
ride now is the MGM [now
Hollywood Studios] Tower of
Terror. I don’t remember a lot from
my childhood, but I remember it
as a good time. I think it was a
time when I was at 100-percent
happiness. But that is balanced
by the fact that your expectations
were low back then. It’s weird.
Since then, I’ve experienced the
death of a parent, lost loves, lost
dreams, and yet have had ﬁrst
kisses, new accomplishments, new
complications and challenges. I
often wonder which was the better
place, but I think the best time after
all is right now. The high points
aren’t as consistent, but they’re
more intense and meaningful.
PGN: How was coming out?
EC: I think I always knew since
grade school. I remember wanting
to hang out with boys all the time.
In high school, I was so focused
on academics I pushed it aside and
was essentially asexual. I didn’t
have a real experience until I went
to Chicago. My best friend there
noticed that I never dated or talked
about girls and just came out and
asked me if I was gay. I normally
would have avoided it, but I just
decided there was nothing to lose
and I said yes. He was really cool
about it and after that I told all my
friends. It was a good experience.
When I moved back home, I
got involved with someone who
wanted me to move in with him.
To go back a bit, when I was in
undergrad, my mother had a stroke.
It was severe and initially she
needed help with all functions and
I had to become a caretaker. At the
time, she’d been pushing me to
become an accountant. As she got
better she told me that the stress
from work and the pressure she put
on herself had caused the stroke.
She told me that all she wanted

was for me to be happy. That freed
me to go to law school and to be
true to myself. When I came back
to the Philly area, I lived with
my parents while working at the
law ﬁrm. It was tough because
she relied on me a lot, but I really
wanted to move in with this guy.
I knew I needed to tell her why I
was leaving. Her initial reaction
was denial. [Laughs.] She tried to
tell me she loved her girlfriends
too, so maybe I was just confused.
I knew it wouldn’t be a major
problem once she understood;
it was just a matter of the initial
shock. I remember watching TV
with her as a child and there was
a show on with a girl who’d been
thrown out by her parents because
she was gay. My mother turned to
me and said, “I would never do that
to my child.” So although I knew
she might not be happy about it, I
knew it wouldn’t be catastrophic.
After she passed away, I read
her journals. There were a lot of
entries where she prayed to God
that I would ﬁnd a girl and settle
down, but she never expressed it
to me. My brother was ﬁne with
it; he had enough of his own stuff
to worry about. My father was a
different story. After my mother
died, he became even more of a
recluse than he had been. He joined
the Jehovah’s Witnesses, so when
I eventually came out to him, he
had a very negative reaction and
basically disowned me. That was
almost three years ago. So I’ve
pretty much created my own family
with my friends.
PGN: The best part about saving
the earth?
EC: [Laughs.] I think I’m so
focused on the work that I do, I
almost forget about it. My title is
senior attorney, but like in a lot of
nonproﬁts, you do what needs to
be done. I help with bookkeeping,
programming and other mundane
stuff. I’m not out there like Erin
Brockovich slaying corporate
giants. But indirectly, by helping
the organization thrive, I’m having
an impact on the environment. And
I do a lot of program work. For
example, right now I’m working
on reducing diesel emissions. I do
enjoy it when I get to do outreach
and speak to people directly.
PGN: And like President Obama,
you could have used your law
degree to make lots of money but
instead chose to use it for public
service.
EC: Yeah, he was actually my
professor in law school. I never
expected him to be president, but
he deﬁnitely stood out. He was
different from all the others, which
is why I sought out his class.
PGN: Different in what way?
EC: Most of our professors were

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009
older, conservative white guys
who’d been scholars for years.
What was memorable about him
was that he was so much younger
than the other teachers, but his
knowledge was on par with them.
He was a state senator at the time
too, so I thought maybe he was just
doing it for PR or whatever, but he
really knew what he was teaching.
He also brought in racial and other
perspectives that the other teachers
didn’t have. He was a demanding
professor too, but it was fun. I
never saw the oratorical skills he
displayed in his political speeches,
though. He talked a lot like he did
in the debates, very thoughtful and
deliberate. Though he did drop
some Ebonics one day, which
was a riot. Unfortunately, I had to
drop out of his class. I got viral
meningitis, went into a coma and
nearly died.
PGN: Yikes, what happened?
EC: I think I never learned
my lesson in high school. I
overachieved there and carried it
on in graduate school. I formed a
running club, I became an editor
at the school newspaper, I was
involved in the environmental
group at school, just a whole lot of
things. I got sick and didn’t allow
myself the time to recover. I had a
regular virus — it might have just
been a cold — but because I was so
overextended, my immune system
was weak and the virus got into
the ﬂuid that surrounds the brain.
I was in my dorm room and took a
nap and I didn’t wake up. A friend
of mine, whom I was supposed
to have dinner with, got worried
when I didn’t show up. He heard
me in my room groaning and when
I didn’t answer the door, he got the
ﬁre department to knock it down. I
was in a coma for one or two days.
He was supposedly straight but we
started dating after that. He was my
ﬁrst crush.

SOLUTION
From Page 30

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS
PGN: That’s pretty drastic just
to get your ﬁrst kiss. Thinking
of romance, what’s the last card
you’ve written or received?
EC: Well, as far as romance goes,
I’m single, but I like to send my
friends cards. I sent everyone a
Valentine’s Day card this year. You
know, the tiny little cards you used
to get in fourth grade. Something
nostalgic.
PGN: Last movie you saw?
EC: I just saw “Revolutionary
Road” and it really made me think
about things. What I was kind of
trying to say before was that, as
I’ve gotten older, I realize that
your priorities shift. Before law
school, I wanted to be a writer, but
sometimes life intervenes and you
change what’s important to you.
For me, I don’t obsess over the
future anymore; I just think about
what is going to make me happy
day to day. I saw my mother stress
out over things so much that she
made herself sick. And to what
end? Instead of enjoying life, she
became trapped in her own body
and was miserable. I don’t want to
do that to myself.
PGN: You mentioned Obama
bringing a racial perspective to law.
How has being a minority affected
you?
EC: My parents are from China
but I was born here. I don’t speak
any Chinese, because like a lot of
minorities, they felt it was more
important to adapt and speak
English to their kids. The only
Chinese I know was from taking a
class in college. They didn’t really
give us any culture at home and
most of my friends were white.
I know that I look different, but
I didn’t grow up with Chinese
culture. I wish I had learned more
about it from my parents.
PGN: What’s the hardest part
of being an
environmentalist?
EC: The hardest
part is getting
people to actually
make changes.
Everyone is for
the environment:
You’re not going
to ﬁnd someone
who says they’re
anti-clean air
and water, but
the hard part is
actually doing
the things that
will make a
signiﬁcant
difference.
We’re really
going to have to
make changes
in our behavior
and lifestyles

to mitigate the impact we’ve had
on the earth and to stem global
warming. We’re very gadget- and
consumer-oriented and that uses a
lot of energy. On the other hand, I
don’t like when environmentalists
are too hardcore. To some, it
almost becomes a religion and
they become very judgmental. If
someone states that they carpool,
they tell them they should be

PAGE 33
riding a bike. I believe we should
be positive and supportive of what
people are trying to do. If someone
drives an hour to work but buys
a hybrid car, that’s at least one
step in the right direction. I’m an
incrementalist in my approach.
I teach what I can and lead by
example. I’m a vegetarian, mostly,
and ride my bike everywhere, but
I’m not always as good as I should

be about recycling. We can all do
better, but as long as we get the
information out there, we can start
making wiser choices and start
turning things around. ■
To suggest a community member
for “Family Portraits,” write to:
Family Portraits, 505 S. Fourth
St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 or
portraits05@aol.com.

PAGE 34

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Rouge is keeping patrons
out of the red
sophisticated in my towering 11/2-inch heels — that’s as far as
this lesbian goes), I heard a hearty
laugh echo across the room. To
my delight, bon vivant and my
sometime-dining companion Noel
Zayas was eating only one table
away from us. That’s a good sign
for any place. We exchanged air
kisses and I stole a few French fries
before taking a seat at my table.
Executive chef Matthew
Zagorski, formerly of Striped Bass
and Lacroix, recently added new
dishes to the menu and unveiled an
affordable new option for lunch:
“Choose Two” offers two dishes
for $16, letting new customers
try different options and regulars
to order smaller versions of their
dinner favorites.
We got things started with the
organic squash soup ($10). This
delectable seasonal soup was
smooth and topped with a sprig of
parsley and drizzled with olive oil.
Very ﬂavorsome.
I tried the cauliﬂower soup
($10). A more subdued offering,
the cauliﬂower was delicate and
almost silken with chive oil, which
gave the soup just the enhancement
it needed. Zagorski is known for
his prowess with a soup tureen
and both of the offerings were top
notch.

The day I visited was warm
despite winter. Though the
windows weren’t open yet, the sun
was shining and I decided to forego
the wine selections and opted for
an afternoon martini. I ordered
the Pearfect ($13), a nice pour of
Absolute pear vodka with Navaninfused cognac and fresh lemon
and lime juice, and decorated
with a thin sliver of pear. It was
delicious.
Next was the tuna tartare, served
in a crispy wonton cup with ponzu
sauce and wasabi lime aioli topped
with micro greens. (The selections
we sampled are all part of the
Choose Two menu.)
Up next was the Bibb lettuce and
endive salad, a deconstructed affair
with the lettuces tied with a ribbon
of chive and accompanied by
Roquefort cheese, grape tomatoes,
red onions, spicy cashews, a red
wine vinaigrette and Granny Smith
apples. Chive oil and a little mound
of Gorgonzola cheese comprised
the rest of the dish. It was as lovely
to look at as it was to taste.
After that, we sampled the
roasted pork with butternut squash
puree served with haricots verts and
roasted vegetable glaze. Leaning
against the pork were two cute little
potato wafﬂes. The succulent ﬂavor
of the pork, though a little chewy,
played nicely against the sweet
ﬂavors of the squash.
We also tried the steamed
mussels with a broth of fennel,
lemon, tomato, basil, white wine
and garlic and served with grilled
baguette. I must say, the broth was
bread-sopping good. Though the
mussels were small and I think I ate
more bread than shellﬁsh, it was
tasty.
We also tried a miniature Rouge
Burger, a 3-ounce version of the
venue’s famed cheeseburger with
Grueyere, caramelized onions,
bibb lettuce and fresh tomato
served with pomme frites (french
fries). For those who don’t know,
the restaurant’s signature burger
has quite a reputation. GQ placed

ROUGE FROM THE SQUARE Photo: Suzi Nash

See ROUGE, Page 37

By Suzi Nash
PGN Contributor
Well, color me red: Rouge, the
upscale bistro on Rittenhouse
Square, has a new menu and a new
attitude. I’d never been there but
had read that it was the place to
see and be seen by the upwardly
mobile and trendy. (Which is
probably why I’d never been there.)
I was a little hesitant and made my
dining companion wear his Sunday
best, but my fears were unfounded.
Rouge was certainly elegant. The
intimate décor evoked thoughts
of women wearing Christian
Dior and men sporting fedoras. I
almost expected to see Humphrey
Bogart and Lauren Bacall walk
through the sheer curtains that hung
from ceiling to ﬂoor. Or Audrey
Hepburn perched on a stool at the
white marble-topped bar, long
cigarette holder in hand, staring at
her reﬂection in the gold-painted
mirror. The sophisticated sounds of
Clooney — Rosemary, not George
— lent to the retro-hip atmosphere
of the place. Despite the quiet
grandeur of the physical setting,
the place was lively and the staff
friendly.
As I waited for my lunch
companion to park the car (who
took pity on me trying to be

Valentine’s at
Water Works
The Water Works Restaurant and
Lounge, 640 Water Works Drive,
is featuring a special $75 prix-ﬁxe
Valentine’s Day Sweetheart Menu
per person on Feb. 13 and 15, with
a special wine pairing that will also
be available as part of the dinner.
Executive chef Darryl Harmon
has created a tantalizing lovers’
dinner in one of the city’s most
romantic settings at the landmark
property along the Schuylkill
River.
Though the restaurant is sold out
on Feb. 14, the special Valentine’s
menu will be available on Friday
and Sunday for the Valentine’s
weekend.
Harmon’s special menu will
include a ﬁrst course of lobster
bisque, crème fraîche and chive oil,
and arugula salad with caramelized
pear, Roquefort cheese, honey-

Valentine’s at
Ansill
Ansill, 627 S. Third St., will offer
a romantic sharing menu for two
from 5:30-11 p.m. Feb. 13-14, in
addition to the restaurant’s regular
á la carte menu.
Chef/owner David Ansill will
feature dishes for two that include
such choices as an appetizer of surf
and turf, tuna and steak tartare for
$15; a 24-ounce ribeye with haricots
verts, mushrooms and red wine
sauce for $50; and ﬂounder stuffed
with crab, served with lemon and
fried capers, for $35.
Ansill will host his Euro-style
BBQ on March 4-5. For $35 per
person, diners will be served
a heaping plate of roasted pig,
assorted grilled meats, marinated
vegetables and a selection of sauces,
and according to Ansill, enough
food for two diners.
For information, call (215)
627-2485
or
visit
www.
ansillfoodandwine.com.

Valentine’s at
Gypsy Saloon
and Stella Blu

Ristorante La Buca
is celebrating 29 years in Business
Thanks to our loyal customers.
We still have the best Tuscan cuisine and fresh seafood.

On Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m.,
legendary chef/owner Georges
Perrier will offer one more
international gastronomical event
in the historic landmark property:
a special cheese- and wine-tasting
experience with Emilio C. Mignucci
of Di Bruno Bros.
Mignucci will pair 10 artesian
cheeses with ﬁve selected wines
from regions across the country
chosen
by
the
restaurant’s
sommelier.
Throughout the special event,
Mignucci and the sommelier will
lead an informative, entertaining
discussion.
Tickets are $45 per person, space
is limited and reservations are
required.
For information, call (215) 5671000 or visit www.lebecﬁn.com.

‘Choose Two’
at Rouge
Rouge, 205 S. 18th St., has
introduced an affordable new
option for lunch called “Choose
Two,” offering two dishes for $16
from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday
through Friday.
In addition to the regular lunch
menu, executive chef Matthew
Zagorski’s “Choose Two” menu
allows patrons to try smaller
versions of some of the chef’s most
inspired creations, allowing diners
to customize their two-plate lunch
experience at Rittenhouse Square’s
ﬁrst bistro and sidewalk café.
While dishes will change
according to seasonal ingredients,
choices may include acorn squash
soup; Rouge burger, a 3-ounce
version of the famed cheeseburger
with Gruyère, caramelized onions
and pommes frites; smoked salmon
BLT on toasted pumpernickel;
short
ribs
with
white-bean
ragout and braised cabbage; panseared scallops with caramelized
cauliﬂower, spinach, Granny Smith
apples and sweet vermouth sauce;
and a daily house-made pasta with
red-wine beef Bolognese, basil,
lemon, oregano and parmesan.
For information, call (215) 7326622. ■

Call Today!

(215) 625-8501
Our advertising representatives:

Nick, ext. 209 Greg, ext. 201 Kelly, ext. 207 Morgan, ext. 212

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

ROUGE
From Page 35
it fourth in the magazine’s “20
Burgers You Must Eat Before You
Die” and Oprah featured it among
the best burgers in the country.
Next Thursday, Zagorski will
compete against other “best burger”
contenders at the Amstel Light
Burger Bash hosted by Rachel Ray
at the South Beach Wine and Food
Festival in Miami. I don’t think the
mini version did it justice, because
at the table next to us I could hear
Zayas praising his full-size burger
as the best in town.
Next up was the grilled
swordﬁsh. This was my favorite.
The swordﬁsh was perfectly moist
and ﬂaky, the roasted corn was
sweet and crunchy and the roasted
tomatoes, crispy shallots and lemon
relish with parsley sauce and citrus
oil made a wonderful combination.
Last but not least was the linecaught ﬂuke with caramelized
cauliﬂower. Swimming in a sweet
vermouth sauce with spinach and
Granny Smith apples, this was an
unlikely combination that worked
well. Zagorski’s time at Striped
Bass really shines in his seafood
dishes.
Taking a breather before dessert,
I spoke to Zagorski about the new
menu and style.

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

we had your chicken salads, your
omelets. I wanted to bring in something fresh. I went on my honeymoon in December and decided to
revamp when I got back. It’s really
starting to catch on.
PGN: Were the changes inspired
by the economy?
MZ: Not really. We’ve been pretty
lucky; with the location that we’re
in and the following we have,
we’ve been pretty stable. We’ve
been here for 11 odd years, so it’s
nice for people to pick up the menu
and see something new. I just
wanted to improve things.
PGN: I have to say I was surprised
at how comfortable the place
seems. It’s much more laidback
than I expected.
MZ: That’s something we’ve really
worked on. The previous owner
wanted to make it someplace really
special for people, a place where
they would feel important, and
sometimes that translated into not
being terribly inclusive or welcoming to everyone. It could be a little
stiff, but we’ve really tried to turn
that around with our staff. I want

everyone to feel welcome and have
a top-notch meal. I’ve also begun
to add offerings to match certain
dietary needs. I get people who
call all the time asking what we
put into the various dishes. Pretty
much everything you see on the
menu is what goes into it, so there
are no surprises. That’s helpful for
people on vegetarian diets as well.
After speaking to the chef, we
ended our meal with two desserts.
I had the ﬂourless warm chocolate
cake ($8), a spongy cake ﬁlled
with gooey chocolate, brushed
with powdered sugar and topped
with blackberries. It was presented
in a mosaic of caramel sauce and
raspberry puree that looked like a
piece of mod pop art. Chocolatey!
My lunch companion had the
banana cream pie ($9). The crust
was crunchy but not hard, the
bananas were melt-in-your-mouth
but not soft. It was a perfect ending
to a lovely meal. I look forward
to going back when the weather
breaks and I can people-watch
from the outdoor chairs facing
Rittenhouse Square. I’ll be the one
in ﬂats. ■

PAGE 37

Fresh and Healthy Food
Grand Opening!

Dine In, Take Out,
Delivery, BYOB
Philadelphia, PA

2028 Chestnut St.,

between 20th and 21st sts.

215-568-7058

Sunday
Vegan
Brunch

PGN: What’s the concept behind
“Choose Two?”
MZ: I wanted to do something so
that people could experience a little
bit more of the menu at a reasonable price point. We’re also doing
something similar at night so that
people can try different things. We
want to bring more food and more
options with the same quality. The
menu changes every day: We try
to do two soups and things like the
burger are always on the menu,
but we strive for variety. I wanted
to shake things up a bit, the lunch
menu was getting a little stale,

play by out playwright
Daniel Beaty about ﬁve
men from one community
ranging in age from
20-60 who have their
lives transformed by an
extraordinary 10-year-old
boy, through Feb. 22 at
Suzanne Roberts Theatre,
480 S. Broad St.; (215) 9850420.

Altar Boyz
The Media Theatre presents
the satirical story of a
Christian boy band from
Ohio dealing with the
marketing of religion, the
judgments people make
toward one another and the
fact that everyone should
basically be just who they
are, through Feb. 15, 104 E.
State St., Media; (610) 8910100.

A Streetcar Named
Desire
Walnut Street Theatre
presents the Tennessee
Williams classic as part
of its landmark 200thanniversary season, through
March 1, 825 Walnut St.;
(215) 574-3550.

The Day of the Picnic
People’s Light & Theatre
Company presents a
mysterious new play about a
witch doctor’s revenge on the
widow of a white missionary
30 years later, through Feb.
15, 39 Conestoga Road,
Malvern; (610) 644-3500.

What You Will
Bristol Riverside Theatre
presents the world premiere
of the urban interpretation
of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth
Night” directed by Keith
Baker and Broadway
choreographer Donald
Byrd, through March 1, 120
Radcliffe St., Bristol; (215)
785-0100.

Dying City
Amaryllis Theatre Company
presents the Philadelphia
premiere of a dark drama
about the personal and
political fallout of war by
out Pulitzer Prize ﬁnalist
Christopher Shinn, through
Feb. 22 at The Playground at
the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom
St.; (215) 564-2431.
A Funny Thing Happened
on the Way to the
Forum
The New Candlelight
Theatre presents the musical
featuring the witty lyrics
and toe-tapping tunes of
legendary composer Stephen
Sondheim, through March
14, 2208 Millers Road,
Ardentown, Del.; (302) 4752313.
Jump/Cut
Flashpoint Theatre Company
presents the Philadelphia
premiere of Neena Beber’s
play about a writer/ﬁlmmaker
couple who document their
friend’s mental decline
and the unraveling of both,
through Feb. 28 at Second
Stage at the Adrienne, 2030
Sansom St.; (215) 665-9720.
My Name is Asher Lev
Arden Theatre Company

Music classical
THANK YOU FOR BEING A FIEND: The Dumpsta Players unleash their latest
entertaining assault on good taste with “Golden Girls Gone Wild,” a drag-queen,
genderbending take on the beloved sitcom, at 11 p.m. Feb. 18 at Bob and
Barbara’s, 1509 South St. For more information, visit www.dumpstaplayers.org
or call (215) 545-4511. Photo: Tom Sheeder Jr.
presents the world premiere
of the story of a young
Hassidic artist torn between
his observant Jewish
community and his need to
create, through March 17 at
Arden’s Arcadia Stage, 40 N.
Second St.; (215) 922-1122.
The Odd Couple
The classic Neil Simon play
runs through March 1 at
Kimmel’s Innovation Studio,
260 S. Broad St.; (215) 7905847.
Oh, the Humanities!
There’s Something
about Mona
The Mask and Wig Club

of the University of
Pennsylvania presents a
comedy set in Florence,
Italy, during the Renaissance,
through Feb. 28 at Prince
Music Theatre, 1412
Chestnut St.; (215) 569-9700.
The Philly Fan
Act II Playhouse presents
the popular one-man show
starring Tom McCarthy, Feb.
17-March 1, 56 E. Butler
Ave.; (215) 654-0200.
The Prayer
Kareem Rogers Productions
presents a show about a
man on his journey to ﬁnd
happiness, his purpose and

the meaning of life, 7:30
p.m. Feb. 14 at Kimmel’s
Perelman Theater, 260 S.
Broad St.; (215) 790-5847.
The Rant
InterAct Theatre Company
presents a new drama in
which the witnesses of the
shooting of a young AfricanAmerican teenager offer
varying accounts of the
event, through Feb. 22 at the
Mainstage at The Adrienne,
2030 Sansom St.; (215) 5688079.
Resurrection
Philadelphia Theatre
Company presents a new

Notices
Send notices at least
one week in advance
to: Diversions, PGN,
505 S. Fourth St.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
19147; fax them to
(215) 925-6437;
or e-mail them to
pgn@epgn.com.
Notices cannot be
taken over the phone.

Delaware River, 211 S.
Columbus Blvd.; (215) 4138631.
Chelsea Hotel: An
Artist’s Memoir
The Sol Mednick Gallery
presents a photographic
exhibition by Linda Troeller,
through March 6 at The
University of the Arts Terra
Hall, 211 S. Broad St.; (215)
717-6300.
Circling Cartography
Proximity Gallery presents
a new series of works by
Marie DesMarais, through
Feb. 28, 2434 E. Dauphin
St.; (267) 825-2949.
Eli VandenBerg
The out artist exhibits
drawings from two series:
“Passing,” which explores
gender transition, and
“Place and Home,” which
focuses on discovering
and rediscovering origins,
through Feb. 27 at the
William Way LGBT
Community Center’s Art
Gallery, 1315 Spruce St.;
(215) 732-2220.
Impressions of an Age:
Ukiyo-e Prints from the
Berman Collection
The Philip and Muriel
Berman Museum of Art at
Ursinus College presents
an exhibition of woodblock
print (ukiyo-e) art made
popular during Japan’s
Edo Period, through
April 17, 601 E. Main St.,
Collegeville; (610) 4093500.
InSights: Devon Dikeou
— Marilyn Monroe
Wanted to be Buried in
Pucci
The Galleries at Moore
presents a mixed-media
installation by New Yorkbased artist Dikeou through
March 14, 20th Street and
The Parkway; (215) 9654027.

Plates
The Clay Studio presents
an exhibition of works by
Howard Kottler, through Feb.
22, 139 N. Second St.; (215)
925-3453.
Saving Face: Portraits
from the Collection of
Robert Infarinato
James A. Michener Art
Museum presents an
exhibition of iconic portraits
of artists and celebrities
from the collection of Bucks
County resident Infarinato,
through March 15, 138 S.
Pine St., Doylestown; (215)
340-9800.
Sendak on Sendak
The Rosenbach Museum and
Library hosts an exhibition
exploring the work of gay
artist/author Maurice Sendak,
through May 3 at 2008-10
Delancey Place; (215) 7321600.
Shift: Investigations in
Contemporary Art
The James A. Michener
Art Museum presents
an exhibition featuring
paintings, photographs,
ﬁlm and sculpture with
recurring elements, unusual
juxtapositions and narratives
that skew both time and
space, through April 12, 138
S. Pine St., Doylestown;
(215) 340-9800.
Women through the
Lens of Time
The Galleries at Moore
presents a photojournalism
exhibition featuring people,
subjects, issues and events
that student curators feel

Cabaret
Catch “Imperfect Moments: Mapplethorpe and Censorship Twenty Years Later,”
from 9:45 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 13 at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University
of Pennsylvania, 118 S. 36th St.
Two decades ago, the institute organized an exhibition called “The Perfect
Moment” by out photographer/artist Robert Mapplethorpe. The show fell victim to
public outcry against government sponsorship of “obscene” art when Washington’s
Corcoran Gallery of Art canceled its stop on the tour, fearing negative repercussions
and possible impact on National Endowment for the Arts appropriations.
Today, the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Philadelphia Exhibitions
Initiative at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage will host a symposium
commemorating the 20th anniversary of Mapplethorpe’s exhibition with worldrenowned artists, critics and scholars examining the legacy of the 1990s culture
wars on the arts.
For more information, visit www.icaphila.org/events/mapplethorpe or call (215)
898-7108.

have reﬂected or shaped
women’s lives, drawn from
the archives of The Inquirer,
which span 180 years,
through March 14, 20th
Street and The Parkway;
(215) 965-4027.
Yumi Kori: Utatane
The Japan-based architect
transforms the Goldie Paley
Gallery at Moore College of
Art using video and sound
to create a multi-sensory,
interactive environment,
through March 14, 20th
Street and The Parkway;
(215) 965-4027.

Sing-along Mama Mia!
Hiway Theater hosts a
screening of the hit movie
musical in a special singalong format with Philly’s
own Chumley and Carlota
Ttendant leading the
festivities, 7 p.m. Feb.
15, 212 Old York Road,
Jenkintown; (215) 886-9800.
Nick and Norah’s Infinite
Playlist
The 2008 queer-friendly
comedy is screened at 8 p.m.
Feb. 16 at the Trocadero
Theatre, 1003 Arch St.; (215)
922-5483.
Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington
The 1939 classic about an
idealistic new senator is
screened for President’s

Cupid’s Burlesque Show
Miss Shady Pines hosts a
bevy of drag queens in an
old-fashioned burlesque
show, 7 p.m.-midnight Feb.
14 at the Gershman Y, 401 S.
Broad St.; (215) 731-9255.
Golden Girls Gone Wild!
The Dumpsta Players conjure
up another twisted show at
11 p.m. Feb. 18 at Bob and
Barbara’s, 1509 South St.;
(215) 545-4511.
Eddie Bruce: A Salute to
Tony Bennett
The out bandleader performs
a tribute to the music of
Bennett, through Feb. 22
at Morgan’s Cabaret at The
Prince Music Theatre, 1412
Chestnut St.; (215) 569-9700.

is struggling with his assignment
to uncover information on the
Dollhouse. Starring Eliza Dushku,
who played the gender-bending
vampire Faith in “Buffy.” 9 p.m. on
FOX.
SATURDAY
Big Eden
In this heartwarming romantic
comedy, Henry, a successful New
York City artist, returns to his rural
hometown of Big Eden, Mont.,
after learning that his grandfather
suffered a stroke. When he runs into
Dean, his high-school best friend
and first great love, he discovers
that Dean is now divorced and
finally showing interest in Henry.
With Arye Gross, Eric Schweig and
Louise Fletcher. 10 a.m. on Logo.
Saving Face
Alice Wu directs this film about
Wil, a 28-year-old New Yorker
whose life is a juggling act between
a promising career as a surgeon
and her responsibilities as a dutiful
daughter and girlfriend to Vivian,
a gorgeous dancer. Like the 7
train she takes to visit her Chinese
family on a weekly basis, Wil is
perpetually in transit between two
worlds. With the exquisite Joan
Chen and Michelle Krusiec. 6 p.m.
on Logo.
SUNDAY
Amazing Race
The new season debuts with a
fantastic group of contestants,
including a deaf man and gay
activist Dr. Mel White and his gay
son Mike. 8 p.m. on CBS.

LOOKING SHARP: “Ugly Betty” is going on hiatus on March 19, so
get your fill now with this Fashion Week-inspired episode in which
Betty copes with putting on a show for a bizarre new designer
named Heinrich — who, by the looks of things, well deserves his
reputation. 8 p.m. Feb. 19 on ABC. Photo: ABC/David Giesbrecht
FRIDAY
Kinsey
Bill Condon wrote and directed
this compelling biopic about
the pioneering sex researcher
Alfred Kinsey. Kinsey’s 1948
publication “Sexual Behavior
in the Human Male” was one of
the first works to address sexual
behavior, and he developed
the scale that rates sexual
orientation from heterosexual to
homosexual. Liam Neeson stars
as Kinsey, Laura Linney is his
long-suffering wife (Linney was
nominated for a Best Supporting
Actress Oscar) and Chris
O’Donnell and Peter Sarsgaard
play his researchers and partners.
Lynn Redgrave appears in a
cameo role as an older lesbian.
7:30 p.m. on IFC.

Dollhouse
The much-anticipated premiere
of Joss Whedon’s (“Buffy, the
Vampire Slayer”) new series. The
Dollhouse is a very secret, and
very illegal, place where wishes
come true. Clients with the right
connections and enough money
can hire “actives,” people who
have been programmed to perfectly
fulfill the needs and desires of their
clients. The actives have chosen, for
their own reasons, to surrender their
bodies. Echo is one of the “actives”
in the elite and illegal Dollhouse.
Through different personality
downloads, she plays the role of
a lovestruck girl on a romantic
weekend and then a ruthlessly
efficient kidnapping negotiator.
Meanwhile, FBI agent Paul Ballard

Desperate Housewives
Orson is exceedingly unhappy
with Bree. No news there. Except
this time it’s because she has taken
over her gay son Andrew’s life and
is buying him everything he ever
wanted — like his hubby-to-be. 9
p.m. on ABC.
The L Word
Jenny’s new script sells while Bette
and Kelly make business plans.
Jamie plays a third-wheel crush
to Alice and Tasha. The girls test
Dylan’s authenticity, and meanwhile
Jenny intrudes on Shane’s rights. 9
p.m. on Showtime.
Brothers & Sisters
Last week Saul had an argument
with Kevin and Scotty about his
new boyfriend, Henry, before
Kitty’s baby shower. Saul said he
didn’t want to be marginalized as
the gay member of the family, since
only the gay men were invited to
the baby shower. But then Saul
showed up with Henry. They met

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

at the symphony. Now Kevin and
Scotty and Saul and Henry will be
hanging out together — while the
women have all the sex. 10 p.m. on
ABC.
The United States of Tara
Tara turns into her teenage
personality “T” and steals her own
car. While Max and Charmaine
decide to chase after her, Marshall
is left at home and decides to throw
a party to (hopefully) win the love
of his crush, Jason. 10 p.m. on
Showtime.
MONDAY
House
A priest who runs a homeless
shelter sees a bleeding Jesus
hovering at his doorstep. House
takes on the case and the team

soon learns the priest had been
involved in a molestation scandal
that caused him to lose his faith.
When the patient’s condition
takes a drastic turn for the worse,
House grapples with his past and
his belief in the “Unfaithful.” 8
p.m. on FOX.
True Beauty
The premise of this reality series
is that beauty is interior, not
exterior — except the players
don’t know that. Six contestants
have been voted off the catwalk.
Watch for the beefcake (Ray!)
and openly queeny Nolé Marin
(who has a Chihuahua named
Empress Minnie). Judge
Cheryl Tiegs, one of the first
supermodels, shows why too
much Botox and face-filler is

Queer TV you can always see:
All My Children
Bianca’s sister, Kendall
(Alicia Minshew), has come
out of her coma to discover
that her husband, Zach,
donated the sperm for Bianca
(Eden Riegel) and Reese’s
(Tamara Braun) baby. Reese
tries talking to Kendall,
but it only makes things
worse. Kendall tells Zach
that seeing the couple is a
constant reminder of what
she considers his betrayal
of her. She wants them
out. Yesterday. Bianca and
Reese are getting married on
Valentine’s Day, so they are
shocked when Zach asks them
to move out just days before
the wedding. Reese is sure it’s
about the baby, but Zach lies.
Later, Kendall tells Greenlee
she doesn’t trust Reese.
Will the wedding go on as
planned? Monday-Friday, 1
p.m. on ABC.
As the World Turns
Luke (Van Hansis) is head
over heels for Noah (Jake
Silbermann), and has been for
two years. Noah loves him
too. They’ve been sleeping
together for weeks and Luke
wants to take it to the next
level — living together. They
had a cute conversation about
Valentine’s Day gifts in which
Noah told Luke not to buy
him that wonderful jacket and
goes on and on describing it
(see — he’s gay! — he likes
clothes). But Luke has a better
idea — an apartment. Whoa!

Slow down there, fella. Noah,
ever Mr. Pragmatism, says
they aren’t ready yet. Luke is
crushed. These two just can’t
help causing trouble for each
other. Monday-Friday, 2 p.m.
on CBS.
Martha
Martha Stewart isn’t queer,
but no one has a gayer
sensibility (or gayer friends
— Tim Gunn, anyone?). Great
food and great ideas with
intriguing and/or cute guests.
Check out videos of the show
at marthastewart.com. Martha
will be on Letterman Feb. 13
(11:35 p.m.) with Valentine’s
Day ideas. Monday-Friday, 2
p.m. on NBC.
Ellen
We never tire of the dancing
dyke diva of daytime. Be
sure to check out Ellen’s
commentary at ellen.
warnerbros.com. MondayFriday, 3 p.m. on NBC.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Smart and savvydeconstruction from the only
out lesbian to host a political
talk show. Monday-Friday, 9
p.m. on MSNBC.
The Late Late Show with
Craig Ferguson
Consistently queer-friendly
commentary, boy toys in
leather gear and nightly drag
routines from the Scottish
comedian. Monday-Friday,
12:35 a.m. on CBS.

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009
so not a good thing. 10 p.m. on
ABC.
RuPaul’s Drag Race
The queens are tested on their
multimedia prowess as they show
off their talents as newscaster,
product spokesperson and talkshow host to RuPaul and guest
judge Debra Wilson of MADtv.
10 p.m. on Logo.
TUESDAY
American Idol
Must-watch, train-wreck TV.
This season might be the best
yet. Watch for the sexy guy from
Puerto Rico, Jorge Nunez. 8 p.m.
on FOX.
Nip/Tuck
Two lesbian characters on one
great show. Tonight, Christian
relates to a patient with a unique
condition whilst Sean pursues a
new relationship. 10 p.m. on FX.
WEDNESDAY
American Idol
The competition continues. 8 p.m.
on FOX.

New Adventures of Old
Christine
Lesbian comedian Wanda Sykes
makes this must-see TV. 8 p.m. on
CBS.
Lie to Me
Tim Roth is sensational as the
dark lie-detector specialist Dr.
Cal Lightman. The team tries
to prevent the assassination of a
South Korean ambassador at a
state wedding, but when someone
else is shot Lightman reveals
some of his own personal secrets
to identify the assassin. 9 p.m. on
FOX.
Lost
The best drama series on TV
since “The Wire” has returned,
more complicated and nervewracking than ever. With Matthew
Fox, Evangeline Lily and Terry
O’Quinn. 9 p.m. on ABC.
The Real World: Brooklyn
This season includes Sarah, a
tatted-up bisexual artist who
works with victims of sexual
abuse, Katelynn, a transgender

female who wants to marry her
boyfriend, and Chet, a Mormon
frat boy. 10 p.m. on MTV.
Top Chef: New York
With only one more episode
after tonight, the chefs cook
for restaurateur Emeril Lagasse
for a chance to be in the final
challenges, but an unexpected
twist will winnow the herd a little
more than is expected. 10 p.m. on
Bravo.
THURSDAY
Ugly Betty
How gay can we be? Fashion
Week brings chaos to the
Modies, as Betty copes with
simultaneously putting on a show
for a bizarre new designer named
Heinrich and an assignment from
YETI to partner up with Matt,
who works at a sports magazine,
to learn about each other’s
jobs. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina
fears she’s lost her edge in the
fashion world because she’s been
spending too much time (playing
dominatrix) with Conner. Daniel
tries giving Molly a makeover,
and a new member of the Mode
team makes a dramatic entrance. 8
p.m. on ABC.
Hell’s Kitchen
The fifth season may be the best
yet. Gordon Ramsay seems to
be enjoying beating up his chefs
more than ever. His nemesis,
Colleen, who teaches cooking but
never went to culinary school,
just missed getting axed last
week because the gorgeous and
super-brave Ji injured her ankle
and had to withdraw. Ramsay
was so sad to see her go that he
let her keep her chef’s jacket as a
sign of her bravery. Meanwhile,
the lesbian chef, LA, is one of
the most solid of the women’s
team, as is Pennsylvania’s own
Andrea. Expect more beating-up
of Colleen and Robert, the 400pound chef. 9 p.m. on FOX.

FATHER/SON BONDING: The 14th season of the globetrotting
reality game show “The Amazing Race” kicks off with gay-rights
activist, writer and pastor Mel White, 68, and his son Mike, 38,
competing for the million-dollar prize. 8 p.m. Feb. 15 on CBS.
Photo: Sonja Flemming/CBS

Grey’s Anatomy
Where is the scorecard? Last
week’s episode ended with
Callie (Sara Ramirez) crying in
the bathroom of the bar after a
particularly trying day — and
another lost possibility of romance
with Sadie (Melissa George). So
who follows her to the loo but Dr.
Arizona (Jessica Capshaw). Dr.
A wants Callie to know that all
that talk about her isn’t all bad
— people really like and respect
her. Like who? asks Callie. And
then Dr. A kisses her. Let’s hope
blonde No. 3 is the charm for the
lesbian-wannabe of Seattle Grace.
9 p.m. on ABC. ■

PAGE 41

Q on the tube:
Still not OK to be gay
By Victoria A. Brownworth
PGN Contributor
When Katy Perry sang “I Kissed a Girl (and I Liked It),” she
might have been singing TV’s latest anthem. Women are kissing all
over the tube these days. So why is it still not OK to be gay?
Attractive women kissing has always been titillating to straight
men and therefore acceptable in a way gay men kissing has not.
Certain factors must apply, of course: The women must be pretty,
sexy and preferably young, although a hot cougar works too. And the
women must at least give the implication of bisexuality (that is, open
to men joining in the fun) and not deﬁnitively lesbian.
For two weeks, ABC has been promoting the upcoming wedding
of Bianca and Reese on “All My Children.” The promo ads don’t
just run during daytime; they also run during prime time. The
scenes in the promos are of Bianca and Reese walking down the
aisle together, Bianca and Reese kissing and — wait for it — Reese
kissing Bianca’s brother-in-law, Zach.
What’s the message here? Tune in to the ﬁrst legal lesbian
wedding in TV history and see one of the brides-to-be kiss her soonto-be brother-in-law?
For months CBS was working the gay storyline between Luke and
Noah on “As the World Turns.” Yet at no point was there promotion
of Luke and Noah kissing or deciding it was ﬁnally time to have sex.
Even though Noah has a bisexual past, just like Reese, while Luke
and Bianca are gay, the same rules do not apply with men.
Because it’s still not OK to be gay on TV.
There have been gay scenes between men on prime time, notably
“The Wire,” “The Shield,” “Prison Break” and “ER.” There were
gay rape scenes on “The Shield” and “Oz.” Interestingly, all the
actual sex scenes involved men of color — black and Latino — and
more than half of the characters were criminals.
On “Brothers & Sisters” and “Desperate Housewives,” there are
established middle-class white gay couples. But these men are as
de-sexualized as can be. Occasionally Kevin and Scotty kiss on
“Brothers & Sisters” and they are legally married, but there’s no
lovemaking, no sexual intimacy. Yet the other members of the cast
are regularly hopping in and out of bed together.
On “Desperate Housewives,” one gay character is allegedly a
former gay porn star. But he couldn’t be less sexual in his on-screen
scenes, even though he’s young and about to marry his boyfriend.
Viewers are told he’s sexual but never see it. But the same show has
shown intergenerational heterosexual sex among several couples
with no apparent problem.
TV likes to be on the cutting edge and push the envelope. Few
series have pushed more envelopes than “The Shield” and “The
Wire.” Yet even on those shows, the gay characters had a serious
dark side that marginalized them as real gay people with real gay
lives.
Meanwhile, lesbian characters, with the exception of those on
“The L Word,” seem to have ﬂexible sexual orientations.
Few, with the exception of Ellen and Bianca, have been lesbians
throughout their tenure on their respective shows. And Ellen’s
character didn’t come out as a lesbian on her sitcom until the show
had been on for several seasons. Bianca has yet to be involved with
another woman who wasn’t bisexual.
What is clear is that queer relationships are still new to TV and
still unsure of their footing. If a storyline is front-burner, as the
Bianca/Reese or Luke/Noah storylines have been, are straight
viewers turned off by the amount of time devoted to queer
characters? That seems to be the question networks/cable are asking.
The question LGBT viewers have for the networks/cable is this:
When will prime time and daytime accept men being openly gay
and intimate with each other as part of the panoply of sexuality on
TV dramas? When will they accept lesbians who aren’t going to be
straight in the next episode? When will it truly be OK to be gay on
the tube, rather than just a phase a character is going through? ■

PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS

PAGE 42

Meeting Place
A community bulletin board of
activities, facilities and organizations

Boys Night Out
A social gathering for gay men, meets at 7
p.m. every second and fourth Tuesday at
Iron Hill Brewery, 30 E. State St., Media;
BurbBoysNiteOut@aol.com.
Delaware Valley 40-plus Club for Men
Social group meets every other month; (215)
587-9933.
Gay Married Men’s Association
Meets at 8 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesdays
at the William Way Center; (215) 483-1032.
Men of All Colors Together
Meets at 7:30 p.m. third Friday of the month
September through June at the William Way
Center; (610) 277-6595; www.MACTPhila.org.
Men’s Coming Out Group, N.J.
Meets at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays at The Pride Center
of New Jersey.
Men’s Coming Out Group
Meets at 7 p.m. Thursdays at Washington West
Project, 1201 Locust St.; (215) 563-0652 ext. 219.
Men of Color United
A discussion/support group for gay and bisexual
men of color meets from 6:30-8:30 p.m. every
Wednesday at 1201 Chestnut St., 15th ﬂoor; (215)
496-0330.
Men of Standard
Provides a place for men of color 21 and older
to share issues of concern. Meets 7-9 p.m. every
Thursday at Camden AHEC, 514 Cooper St.,
Camden, N.J.; (856) 963-2432 ext. 206; johnson_
t@camden_ahec.org.
Philly DADS
An association of gay and bisexual fathers
supporting each other meets at 7:30 p.m. fourth
Friday of the month at the William Way Center;
(215) 668-5239.

Parents/Families

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009
Interweave New Jersey
An organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender Unitarian and their allies meets every
third Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church,
401 N. Kings Highway, Cherry Hill, N.J.; (856)
667-3618.
Oasis
Meets 7-8 p.m. Wednesdays at 1201 Chestnut St.;
(215) 563-0652 ext. 509.
Mazzoni Center Family and Community
Medicine
Primary healthcare and specialized transgender
services in a safe, professional, non-judgemental
environment, 809 Locust St.; (215) 563-0658.
Renaissance Transgender Assoc.
Meets at 8 p.m. third Saturday of the month at Into
the Woods ofﬁce complex in King of Prussia; (610)
975-9119 box 5; and 7:30 p.m. ﬁrst Thursday of the
month at the William Way Center; www.ren.org.
T-MAN
People of color support group for transmen, FTMs,
butches, studs, agressives, bois, genderqueer and
all female-born individuals with gender questions
meets 7:30-9:30 p.m. Mondays, second ﬂoor, 1201
Locust St.; (215) 834-9063; tman215@aol.com.
Transhealth Programming Committee
Meetings are at 5 p.m. second and last Sundays of
the month at the William Way Center.
Transhealth Information Project
Sponsors a weekly drop-in center from 7-11 p.m.
Tuesdays at 1201 Locust St.; (267) 549-6497.
Transgender Health Action Coalition
Peer trans health-advocacy organization meets at
5 p.m. second and last Sundays of the month at
the William Way Center; (215) 732-1207; www.
critpath.org/thac.
WeXist
FTM support group meets from 6-8 p.m. second
Friday of the month at the William Way Center;
ﬁrst hour is open; second hour is for people
assigned female at birth who have gender issues;
(267) 250-1548; www.wexist.org.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays/Bucks County
Meets at 7:30 p.m. third Thursday of the month
at Penns Park United Methodist Church, 2394
Second Street Pike, Penns Park; (215) 598-8005.

Young, Trans, and Uniﬁed!
Support group for transgender and questioning
individuals ages 13-23 meets from 7-8:30 p.m.
every Thursday at The Attic Youth Center; (215)
545-4331 ext. 24.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays/Cape May, N.J.
Meets at 2 p.m. third Sunday of the month in the
Maruchi Room of Burdette Tomlin Memorial
Hospital, 2 Stone Harbor Blvd.; (609) 861-1848.
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays/Chester County Meets at 7 p.m.
ﬁrst Tuesday of the month at the Unitarian
Fellowship of West Chester, 501 S. High St., West
Chester; (484) 354-2448.

African Asian Latina Lesbians United
Social-issues discussion group meets fourth
Thursday of the month at The Pride Center of New
Jersey.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays/Philadelphia
Meets from 2-5 p.m. third Sunday of the
month at the LGBT Center at the University of
Pennsylvania, 3907 Spruce St.; (215) 572-1833.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays/Princeton, N.J.
Meets at 7:30 p.m. second Monday of the month
in the George Thomas Room at Trinity Church, 33
Mercer St.; (609) 683-5155.
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays/Wilmington, Del.
Meets at 7 p.m. second Thursday of the month
at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 13th and
Rodney streets; (302) 654-2995.
Philadelphia Family Pride
Advocacy, support and social network for LGBT
families offers play groups, monthly kids and
teen talk groups, activities and outings. Planning
meetings are held monthly; (215) 844-3360; www.
phillyfamilypride.org.

Trans

Gender Rights Advocacy Association of
New Jersey
A transgender civil-rights group meets ﬁrst Sunday
of the month at 1 p.m. at The Pride Center of New
Jersey.

Women

Bucks County Lesbian Alliance
Meets monthly for social events;
http://buckscountylesbianalliance.org.

Lesbians and BiWomen in Heterosexual
Marriages
A support group meets at 7:30 p.m. on third
Wednesday of the month at The Pride Center of
New Jersey.
Lesbian Community of Delaware Valley
Social group holds monthly meetings and activities
for gay women of all ages in Delaware, Chester and
Montgomery counties; P.O. Box 962, Phoenixville,
PA 19460; http://groups.yahoo.com/
group/LCDV/; marichikogirl@yahoo.com.
Lesbian Couples Dining Group of
Montgomery County
Meets monthly; (215) 542-2899.
Lesbian Social Network of South Jersey
500-member social group for lesbians holds
monthly activities in South Jersey and surrounding
area; www.lsn.southjersey.com.
Lesbians with Breast Cancer
A support group meets from 6:30-8:30 on second
Wednesday of the month at Gilda Club Delaware
Valley, 200 Kirk Road, Warminster; (215) 4413290.
Queer Connections

Social group for women in their 20s meets
weekly; (215) 468-1352; queerconnect@yahoo.
com.
Republican Lesbians
Meetings held at 7:30 p.m. on ﬁrst Monday of the
month at The Pride Center of New Jersey.
South Jersey Lesbians of Color
Meetings are the ﬁrst and third Fridays at 7:30
p.m. at The Starting Point, 215 Highland Ave.,
Suite C, Westmont, N.J.; (856) 824-0881; e-mail:
SJLOC-owner@yahoogroups.com.
Women’s Coffee House for Lesbians
A group for lesbian and bisexual women meets on
ﬁrst Saturday of the month at 7 p.m. at The Pride
Center of New Jersey.
The Womyn’s Village
The ﬁrst womyn-owned and operated thinktank targeting black African, Asian, Latina and
Native American LBT and two-spirited womyn.
Meets at 5 p.m. on third Thursday of the month
at COLOURS Organization, 112 N. Broad
St., 11th ﬂoor; (215) 765-0121; the_womyns.
village@yahoo.com.

Meeting Place is a public service.
Submissions must include a phone number for publication.

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

PAGE 43

Classifieds

With Real Estate, Help Wanted, Services and Personals

Homebuyers turn frugal to save for down payments
By J.W. Elphinstone
The Associated Press
She’s not ready to audition for
the “Top Chef” TV show, but
Nicole Nagel’s home cooking is
helping her save for a house. The
Miami resident is skipping fancy
restaurants so she has enough
money for a down payment.
“I’ve had a lot of bad meals,
but they’re sacriﬁces I need to
make,” said the 29-year-old
marketing manager, who hopes
to have $20,000 saved by this
summer to buy a two-bedroom
condo for $250,000.
Americans are saving more
than they have in months,
new data last week showed.
And while that’s bad news for
retailers and restaurateurs, it
could be good news for the
crippled housing market. Many
potential homebuyers say they’ve
stopped eating out, going to

movies, buying iTunes and other
nonessentials to save money
for larger down payments that
lenders now are demanding.
Lenders want buyers with
between 20-25 percent of the
house price in cash, said Guy
Cecala, publisher of Inside
Mortgage Finance. Even loans
insured by the Federal Housing
Administration, a popular option
for ﬁrst-time homebuyers, now
require at least 3.5-percent down,
up from 3 percent last year.
“Everybody in America better
be saving if they want to buy a
house these days,” Cecala said.
And they’re starting to. The
personal savings rate rose to
3.6 percent in December and
averaged 1.7 percent for 2008,
the government said last Monday.
That’s nearly three times the 2007
rate and far above the sevendecade low of 0.4 percent in 2004
— when lenders were wheeling

and dealing in no-money-down
mortgages.
Of course, many people are
saving anew because they are
worried about losing their jobs
or because the stock market
has obliterated their retirement
accounts.
Aspiring homebuyers should
also get a little ﬁnancial boost
from Uncle Sam. Last week,
the Senate passed a plan to give
homebuyers a tax credit of 10
percent of the value of new or
existing homes, up to a $15,000
limit.
The program, if added to the
economic stimulus package,
would replace a temporary $7,500
credit for ﬁrst-time homebuyers
that was passed last summer.
ChaVonne Gilzean of Ft.
Lauderdale, Fla., is crossing her
ﬁngers for a bigger tax credit, but
she still needs some time to put
away $4,200 by October to buy

a $100,000 townhouse using an
FHA loan. That means no new
earrings or shoes. No iTunes
either, said the 26-year-old health
administrator.
She also plans to pay off her
$2,700 credit-card debt with her
tax refund. And she has set up
two automatic monthly transfers
into her savings account.
“I did it so it wouldn’t hurt so
bad,” Gilzean said with a laugh.
Despite the daily deprivations,
some savers have discovered
some unexpected advantages to
less lavish living.
Jeff and Jaime LaMore said
they’re happier now because
they don’t ﬁght about money
anymore.
“It’s a marriage booster,” said
Jeff, a 34-year-old computerreports writer in Roswell, Ga.
“It puts things in perspective and
you don’t dread the rainy days.”
The couple overhauled their

finances last summer after plans
to build a home without a down
payment failed.
“We were frustrated with
ourselves,” said Jaime, a 31year-old dental assistant. “We
were making six figures together
and we couldn’t figure out where
the money was going.”
They put themselves on a
$300 weekly budget. They
traded nights on the town for
weekends hiking with their dog,
and restaurants for dinner parties
at home.
So far, they’ve paid off their
credit cards and are squirreling
away between $300 and $800
each week. They expect to put
down at least 20 percent, if not
more, on a $350,000 house in
nine months. And after that, the
LaMores are going to work on
living debt-free.
Says Jeff: “I don’t see us using
a credit card ever again.” ■

This charming home is located on one of the most
convenient and photographed streets in Philadelphia.
Completely renovated kitchen with access to huge
outdoor space. Sold fully w/tasteful furnishings.
Perfect for ﬁrst-time buyer.

Check your ad

PLACING ADS
Using voicemail? Please be
sure to have the following
information ready when you
call:
• Your ad copy
• The type of style you want
• Desired abbreviations
• American Express,
Discover, MasterCard or VISA
information
• Your name and mailing

Washington Square West

address
• Daytime telephone number
Having all this information
ready will speed your order
and help to avoid errors.
Phone calls can only be
returned during business
hours.
For more information, see
the coupon page in this
section.

Philadelphia Gay News assumes responsibility for errors in classiﬁed ads only when
notiﬁed by noon the Tuesday after the ad ﬁrst appears.
To receive credit for errors, please notify PGN by then. Credit only will be extended in
the form of additional advertising space. Any cash refunds, for any reason, are subject to
a $10 service charge.
PGN will publish no classiﬁed ad — in any category — that contains sexually explicit
language. Obviously excluded are traditional four-letter words that relate to sexual activity.
Other words may be excluded at the discretion of the publisher, who reserves the right
to edit or rewrite any ad that, in his opinion, violates this policy or its intent.

CLASSIFIEDS

PAGE 44

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Placing Classiﬁeds Liner Ads
In Person: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday, By Phone or on the Web: 24 Hours, 7 Days

Deadline for Line Advertising is Friday at 3 p.m. for the following Friday’s issue. You may place your ad via our secure voicemail system, fax or e-mail at any time,
or on our Web site. Please have the following information ready to place your ad:

All classiﬁed advertising must be in our ofﬁce by 3 p.m. Friday for the next Friday’s paper. Ads arriving after that time will be held for the next available issue. PGN reserves the
right to edit or rewrite ads as needed, to refuse any ad for any reason and to determine the ﬁnal classiﬁcation. Ads determined to be in bad taste, directed to or from persons under
the legal age of consent or containing racially or sexually discriminatory language will be refused. We need your full name, mailing address and daytime phone number on the insertion order form for you ad. This information is conﬁdential and will not appear in the paper. Any ads received without full information will be destroyed. Sexually explicit language
will be edited or refused at the discretion of the management.

PAYMENT AND PLACEMENT

Classiﬁed ads may placed online or by mail, fax, e-mail or in person at the PGN ofﬁces at 505 S. Fourth St., Phila. Phone, fax and e-mail orders are accepted with credit/debit cards
only. A $10 minimum applies to all charges. If you are paying in person with cash, please have the exact change as we cannot make change at the ofﬁce. All ads must be prepaid for
their entire run. NO EXCEPTIONS! DO NOT SEND CASH THROUGH THE MAIL; IT’S NOT SAFE AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED.

CANCELLATION POLICY
All PGN Classiﬁed ads are cancelable and refundable except for “FRIENDS” ads. Deadline for cancellation is 3 p.m. Friday. The balance will be credited to your credit/debit card. Checks
take two weeks to process. The date of the ﬁrst issue the ad appeared in, along with the classiﬁcation, your name, address and daytime phone number is required to cancel your ad.

Classiﬁeds Liner Insertion Order

Select the TYPE STYLE you want from the examples below, and begin each line under the arrow to the left of the letter
representing that style. Write to the end of the line (hyphenate words correctly. Do not stop at any other arrow, as each arrow
represents a starting point. Allow one block for each letter, number, punctuation mark and space. Be sure to skip a space
between words. PHONE NUMBER MUST INCLUDE AREA CODE.
Be sure to circle one of the classiﬁcations and compute the cost of your ad. Liner advertising is on a PREPAY BASIS ONLY,
and payment must accompany this form. PLEASE DO NOT SEND CASH THROUGH THE MAIL.
Type STYLE A
Type STYLE B (Italic)
Type Style C (Bold)

A

B

HEADLINE (24 SPACES PER LINE) FREE WHEN PLACED ONLINE
40 spaces Per Line
36 spaces Per Line
24 spaces per line

� Deck3or
each home
This newer move-in condition
bd,balcony
2 1/2 ba.with
townhouse
comes with (4)
four car parking. The extra deep lot runs through to Olive St. A large deck
10 year
andAvenue
rear garden off the�kitchen
willtax
addabatement
to your living enjoyment. See this
Schoolhouse Lane & Ridge
before it is gone.....................Realistically priced only $425,000.00
East Falls one
Free
Center
Shuttle
507 S. 15th St. Cute 2 �bd.,
2 ba.
home City
located
in the Rittenhouse Square
215.844.8888area. Full basement and side garden. Lowest price in the area. ..................
FOR RENT
.......................................................................A steal at only $250,000.00
1006 N. 5th ST #1-1br,1.5 baths, bi-level condo in Northern Liberties $1300 mo Alison Ermilio

Fabulous renovation in
Manayunk, beautiful home with
great views, upgrades galore. You
won’t believe the ﬁnishes in this
rare single just 3 short blocks off
Main Street. 3 bedrooms, 2-1/2
baths, all the bells and whistles
and a 10 year tax abatement.

FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Call me for the best service and the lowest rates.
Ask about our free Job Loss Protection.

PGN WILL NOT PUBLISH RACIAL DISTINCTIONS IN ROOMMATE ADS. SUCH
NOTATIONS WILL BE EDITED. THANK
YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.
___________________________________
GREATER NE PHILA.
Have your own bedroom in a beautiful split
level home with 2 gay men. House is 4 BR, 2
full baths, W/D, upper and lower decks, use of
kitchen. Property is by Welsh & the Boulevard, 1
min. to 58 bus. We ask only that you be at least
reasonably neat and employed. Rent is $600 +
1/3 utils. Contact Dave at 215-698-0215.
_______________________________32-19
NE PHILA.
House to share. $350/mo. Call John at 267574-1804.
_______________________________32-16
OVERBROOK PARK/CITY LINE
Room. Use of kitchen, W/D, cable. $450/mo.
215-850-7900.
_______________________________32-16
REHOBOTH BEACH
House share, room avail. Inc. pvt bath, deck,
pool & utils. 5/1 to 9/1. $5400 season. Call
302-530-1071.
_______________________________32-17

PGN, one of the country's most award-winning
Gay and Lesbian publications, is looking for a
special candidate to fill this position in our
advertising sales department.
Applicants should have previous advertising
sales experience, preferably in a similar
environment. You should have a strong work
ethic, good communication skills (both written
and verbal), and an aggressive desire to sell
advertising in this very special niche market.
Most important, you should aspire to become an
integral part of our successful sales team.
We offer a competitive salary plus bonus,
as well as Health Insurance.
Applicants should call Nick Forte at 215-625HELP
WANTED
HELP
WANTED
8501, ext.
209. Email resume
to nick@epgn.com
or send resume to:

Seeking part-time editorial intern
The Philadelphia Gay News is seeking a part-time editorial intern. As
editorial intern, you will perform a variety of duties in support of the
editorial staff. Duties might include writing short articles and weekly
event listings, research, fact checking, ling, archiving data and special
projects.
Intern(s) may also have the opportunity (depending on level of interest
and journalistic skills) to attend local events (press conferences, rallies,
etc.) and write news and features articles.
Intern(s) should be highly motivated with strong writing skills. A
journalistic background is preferred but not required. Intern(s) must
have the ability to stay focused while working independently. Intern(s)
must be able to meet deadlines both on a daily and longer-term basis.
This is an unpaid internship (academic credit available), 15-20 hours
per week.

OPPORTUNITIES
100% RECESSION PROOF!
Do you earn $800 in a day? Your own local
candy route. Includes 25 Machines and Candy
All for $9,995. 1-800-460-4027.
_______________________________33-07
ATTENTION INSURANCE AGENTS
Own your own Insurance Agency. Market
to the masses. Turnkey system that equals
high proﬁts. Leads- training. Call to schedule
interview. 1-866-946-4340.
_______________________________33-07

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FEB. 13 - 19, 2009

Adult/Personals

FRIENDS

FRIENDS

LOOKING FOR ROMANCE
Attractive GWM, warm, sensitive, caring, 48
y.o. with a smooth gymnast build looking for
other GWM, 30-50, who is also in good shape.
I live in NE Phila. I’m looking for guys who are
also sensitive, caring with a fun personality. If
this sounds interesting to you feel free to call
me, David, 215-698-0215.
_______________________________33-10